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Bioprinting – printing with incorporated living cells – has earned special attention on tissue engineering approaches, aiming to closer reproduce the 3D microenvironment of the target tissue. However, it raises extra complexity related to the need to use cell-friendly printing conditions that still comply with material printing fidelity. Inspired by the composite nano structural organization of mineralized tissues, this work reports the efficiency of the chemical approach followed to in situ mineralize blue shark skin collagen, at a nano scale level, to ultimately produce stable inks. The influence of initial cellular density was evaluated by assessing three different concentrations (2.5, 5 and 7.5 × 106 cells·ml−1) of human adipose stem cells (hASC), with the higher density of encapsulated cells presenting improved viability in a long culture term. Immunodetection of osteogenic-related markers, like RUNX2 and osteopontin, 21 days after cell culture in basal conditions confirmed the potential of the ink to be applied for osteogenic purposes, which may be associated with the success of the cell-to-ink interaction and the Ca2+ ions released from the co-precipitated hydroxyapatite. A combination of mineralized shark collagen, alginate and hASC is thus proposed as a bioactive bioink with potential properties for regeneration of bone tissue., This study was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Tecnology (FCT) under the scope of the BiogenInk project (M-ERA-NET2/ 0022/2016), by European Regional Development Fund through INTERREG Atlantic Area Programme, under the scope of BLUEHUMAN (EAPA_151/ 2016) project and through Norte de Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under the scope of Structured project NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000021. The Doctoral Programme NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000037 supported by NORTE 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Social Fund, is also greatly acknowledge by the PhD fellowship of GSD. RP and SF-R thank FCT for the investigator contract IF/00347/2015 and PhD grant PD/BD/135252/2017, respectively. The authors acknowledge also the Centro Tecnológico del Mar (CETMAR, Vigo, Spain) and COPEMAR SA (fishing company, Spain) for the kind offer of the used by-products for the production of collagen.

The demand for bio-based and safer composite materials is increasing due to the growth of the industry, human population, and environmental concerns. In this framework, sustainable and safer cork-polymer composites (CPC), based on green low-density polyethylene (LDPE) were developed using melt-based technologies. Chitosan and polyethylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA) were employed to enhance the CPC’s properties. The morphology, wettability, mechanical, thermal, and antibacterial properties of the CPC against Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were examined. The CPC showed improved stiffness when compared with that of the LDPE matrix, preferably when combined with chitosan and PE-g-MA (5 wt. %), reinforcing the stiffness (58.8%) and the strength (66.7%). Chitosan also increased the composite stiffness and strength, as well as reduced the surface hydrophilicity. The CPCs’ antibacterial activity revealed that cork significantly reduces the biofilm on the polymer matrix. The highest biofilm reduction was found with CPC containing cork and 5 wt. % chitosan for both P. putida (54% reduction) and S. aureus (36% reduction), confirming their potential to extend the lifespan of products for packaging and healthcare, among other applications. This work leads to the understanding of the factors that influence biofilm formation in cork composites and provides a strategy to reinforce their behavior using chitosan.

The exact path leading to cognitive impairment that goes beyond malaria is unclear, but it appears to be the result of interactive factors. Time of exposure to disease and recurrences are potentially major determinant variables. Cognitive impairment is described mainly in children, rarely in adults. The disease in high endemic areas usually does not affect elderlies, because of acquired immunity over time. However, this population is relatively more frequently sick in lower endemic areas, such as in the Amazon. This study assessed the effect of Plasmodium vivax malaria on the executive and cognitive functions of elderlies, in the Brazilian Amazon. A cohort study was conducted to evaluate executive and cognitive functions one week (T0), two months (T2) and eight months (T8) after the malaria episode. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), Wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS-III), and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were used to assess executive and cognitive functions. One hundred-forty elderlies were enrolled (70 with P. vivax malaria and 70 without malaria). P. vivax malaria was associated with impairment of the executive and cognitive functions in elderlies for up to 8 months after acute P. vivax malaria. Prior history of malaria, recurrences and higher parasitemia were independently associated with various surrogates of executive and cognitive impairment. With the increase in life expectancy, elderlies living in malaria endemic areas will deserve more attention from health authorities, to guarantee improvement of their quality of life in the tropics.

Stress encompasses reactions to stimuli that promote negative and positive effects on cognitive functions, such as learning and memory processes. Herein, we investigate the effect of restraint stress on learning, memory, anxiety levels and locomotor activity of male and female mice. We used the plus-maze discriminative avoidance task (PMDAT), a behavioral task based on the innate exploratory response of rodents to new environments. Moreover, this task is used to simultaneously evaluate learning, memory, anxiety-like behavior and locomotor activity. Male and female mice were tested after repeated daily restraint stress (4 h/day for 3 days). The results showed stress-induced deficits on aversive memory retrieval only in female mice, suggesting a sexual dimorphism on memory acquisition. Furthermore, stressed females exhibited increased anxiety-like behavior and decreased exploratory behavior. Plasma corticosterone levels were similarly increased by restraint stress in both sexes, suggesting that the behavioral outcome was not related to hormonal secretion. Our findings corroborate previous studies, showing a sexually dimorphic effect of restraint stress on cognition. In addition, our study suggests that stress-related acquisition deficit may be the consequence of elevated emotional response in females.

The optimization of three-dimensional device has widely been explored and designated as computational challenge in photonic device design. In this context, this work presents a novel multi-symmetric level (MSL) optimization procedure based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) to decrease the computational requirements in a three-dimensional photonic coupler device optimization. The proposed procedure divides the device optimization into many local regions by dimensional symmetric aspects, being based on divide- to-conquer strategies. As the optimization converges to acceptance values, the number of symmetric areas are decreasing until a unique local area that modeled the total 3D photonic device. This procedure was validated by the minimization of a photonic coupler modeled to interconnect optical waveguides with different height, width and refractive indices.

Resveratrol is a polyphenol found naturally in fruits and plants. Recently, studies in humans and animal models have suggested beneficial properties of this polyphenol, such as improvements to metabolic and lipid profiles, along with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects. In the urogenital tract (UGT), resveratrol has also been tested clinically and experimentally as a therapeutic drug in several diseases; however, the translational efficacy of resveratrol, especially in UGT, is still a matter of debate. In the present review, we address the pre-clinical efficacy of resveratrol in UGT-related dysfunctions, focusing on lower urinary tract symptoms, non-cancerous prostatic disease (benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatitis) and erectile dysfunction. In vitro studies indicate that resveratrol reduces inflammatory markers and oxidative stress, and improves endothelial function in UGT organs and cells isolated from humans and animals. Despite displaying low oral bioavailability, in vivo administration of resveratrol largely improves erectile dysfunction, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatitis and voiding impairments, as evidenced in different animal models. Resveratrol also acts as a microbiota modulator, which may explain some of its beneficial effects in vivo. In contrast to the large amount of pre-clinical data, there are insufficient clinical trials to establish resveratrol treatment efficacy in human UGT-related diseases. In summary, we provide an overview of the in vivo and in vitro efficacy of resveratrol in animal and human UGT dysfunctions, which may support future clinical trials.

The interest in psychedelic substances as potential treatments for psychiatric disorders is increasing. The β-carboline harmine, an Ayahuasca component, presents hallucinogenic and antidepressant effects. Although Ayuahuasca-and consequently harmine-is usually consumed in rituals, the role of social contexts in the behavioral effects of harmine has not been investigated yet. In this sense, affective states may modulate cohabitants' behavior, including learning/memory. This work investigates the effects of harmine on the learning/memory performance of rats evaluated on the contextual and tone fear conditioning (CFC and TFC) and on the plus-maze discriminative avoidance (PMDAT) tasks. The possible influence of a harmine-treated cohabitant was assessed by evaluating rats housed in homogeneous cages-where all the animals were acutely administered with the same treatment (vehicle, 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg harmine), and in heterogeneous cages-where each animal received a different drug treatment. The main results are: (a) harmine impaired CFC (10 mg/kg) and PMDAT discrimination (all doses); and (b) harmine caused a memory deficit in CFC, TFC, and PMDAT of untreated rats kept in heterogeneous cages. Our results show that harmine induces a memory deficit in tasks with emotional contexts. Further, the cohabitation with animals treated with this drug also seems to impair memory performance of untreated animals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A considerable part of the culture and behavior of societies are derived from the habits and preferences built up over time. One representative characteristic that a group can present is the preference for certain food groups, thus, building the gastronomic identity of each region around the world. With the increasingly broad connections established by social networks, it is now more feasible to analyze such preferences on a large scale. This study examines recipes from Allrecipes.com network in three continents: America, Europe, and Asia. Based on the evaluations made by the users, a score was developed, allowing the separation of the recipes in two broad groups: well evaluated and poorly evaluated. All the ingredients of these recipes were extracted and used to assemble a network whose links were made via pointwise mutual information. This measure of association, used in pairs of ingredients, allowed us to find the main ingredients common to the countries. Our study may help to better understand the success, or otherwise, of a recipe, in a specific locality, based on its main ingredients. Thus, one of the main utilities envisioned for this work is to establish better recommendations for recipes.

El presente trabajo consiste en un análisis historiográfico sobre el protagonismo que tuvieron los distintos grupos étnicos en la Guerra de Independencia del Ecuador según los textos escolares de Historia publicados entre 1915 y 2015. Se han utilizado como fuentes historiográficas los textos escolares de Historia, debido a que desde el siglo XX las políticas educativas ecuatorianas los han utilizado como instrumentos ideológicos para llevar a cabo la construcción de una identidad nacional común cimentada a partir de los presupuestos de la Historia Patria del siglo XIX. El empleo de la enseñanza de la Historia a través de los textos escolares para consolidar esa identidad nacional del siglo XIX se hace patente en el análisis sobre el protagonismo étnico en la Independencia, donde dichos textos explican este acontecimiento como un proyecto de construcción nacional dirigido por las élites criollas cuyo supuesto objetivo principal era liberar a todos los “ecuatorianos” de una presunta opresión monárquica ejercida por un enemigo extranjero: el “español”. Pese a que hay autores que han manifestado que indígenas, negros, mestizos, zambos, pardos, mulatos, cholos, obtuvieron pocos beneficios de la Independencia, todos los textos escolares no dudan en confirmar que gracias a los esfuerzos de las élites criollas, héroes de la Patria a los que hay que venerar y ensalzar, la República del Ecuador pudo ser libre. The present work consists of a historiographic analysis of the protagonism that the different ethnic groups had in Ecuador's War of Independence according to the history textbooks published between 1915 and 2015. History school textbooks have been used as historiographic sources, because since the 20th century Ecuadorian educational policies have used them as ideological instruments to carry out the construction of a common national identity based on the assumptions of the 19th century Patriotic History. The use of the teaching of history through school texts to consolidate this 19th century national identity is evident in the analysis of the ethnic protagonism in the Independence, where these texts explain this event as a project of national construction directed by the Creole elites whose supposed main objective was to free all “Ecuadorians” from an alleged monarchical oppression exercised by a foreign enemy: the “Spanish”. Although some authors have stated that indigenous people, blacks, mestizos, zambos, pardos, mulatos and cholos obtained few benefits from Independence, all the school texts do not hesitate to confirm that thanks to the efforts of the Creole elites, heroes of the country who are to be venerated and praised, the Republic of Ecuador was able to be free.

Objetivos: Na anemia falciforme, a hemólise intravascular acarreta a liberação de hemoglobina para o plasma. A hemoglobina no plasma ou no espaço intersticial reage com o óxido nítrico (NO), gerando nitrato (NO+3) e metahemoglobina. A redução da biodisponibilidade de NO no pênis tem sido apontada como uma das principais causas para desencadear o priapismo em homens e camundongos transgênicos para anemia falciforme. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito farmacológico do tratamento com a haptoglobina nas alterações da função erétil em camundongos transgênicos para anemia falciforme. Material e métodos: Os camundongos transgênicos para anemia falciforme Berkeley (SCD) foram tratados com o veículo ou com a haptoglobina (400 mg/kg, 3 vezes na semana por 1 mês, via subcutânea). Comitê de ética CEUA-UNICAMP (5405-1/2019). Resultados: O relaxamento dependente de endotélio in vitro foi avaliado através da construção de curvas concentração- resposta à acetilcolina (ACh, 1 nM – 10 μM) em corpos cavernosos (CC) de camundongos pré-contraídos com fenilefrina. A resposta máxima (Emax) da ACh foi maior (p < 0.05) nos CC dos camundongos SCD em comparação com o grupo controle. O tratamento com a haptoglobina reduziu (p < 0,05) a Emax da ACh no grupo SCD. O relaxamento induzido pelo doador de NO nitroprussiato de sódio também foi avaliado. A potência (pEC50) e a Emax do SNP foram maiores (p < 0.05) nos CC dos camundongos SCD em comparação com os camundongos controles. Os valores de Emax para o SNP no grupo SCD tratado com a haptoglobina não foram diferentes em comparação com o grupo controle. Os relaxamentos nitrérgicos foram maiores (p < 0.05) no grupo SCD em todas as frequências estudadas (2-32Hz) em comparação com o grupo controle. Não houve diferença entre os relaxamentos nitrérgicos entre o grupo controle e o grupo falciforme tratado com a haptoglobina. A contração à fenilefrina foi avaliada através da construção de curvas concentração-efeito. A Emax da fenilefrina foi menor (p < 0.05) no grupo SCD em comparação com o grupo controle. Os valores de Emax para a fenilefrina no grupo SCD tratado com a haptoglobina não foram diferentes em comparação com o grupo controle. Discussão: Evidências experimentais sugerem que a redução da biodisponibilidade de NO endotelial/GMPc basal resulta em redução compensatória da atividade e expressão de PDE5 nos CC, assim prejudicando o mecanismo de controle da ereção peniana. É provável que o tratamento com a haptoglobina esteja normalizando a biodisponilidade de NO-GMPc no músculo liso cavernoso e consequentemente a expressão de PDE5 nos corpos cavernosos dos camundongos SCD. Conclusão: O tratamento com a haptoglobina reduziu o aumento do relaxamento induzido pela estimulação da via NO-cGMP nos CC de camundongos transgênicos para anemia falciforme, assim como aumentou a contração dos CC. Evidenciando que a hemoglobina no plasma contribui para o desenvolvimento do priapismo na anemia falciforme.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. The main symptoms are motor signs such as resting tremor and difficulty in initializing movements. Non-motor alterations, such as cognitive deficits, can precede the motor symptoms. PD is more frequent in men than women. The mechanisms related to this difference are not completely understood. There is evidence that females present distinct characteristics in dopaminergic function compared to males. While the severity of motor impairments is often compared between sexes, little is known about sex differences in the prodromal stage. Most animal models of PD present acute severe motor impairment, which precludes the study of non-motor symptoms. Our research group have proposed an adaptation of the classic reserpine protocol, using low doses in a chronic treatment. This method allows the observation of progressive motor impairment as well as premotor deficits. Here we investigate possible behavioral and neuronal sex differences in the effects of the repeated treatment with a low dose of reserpine in rats. Male and female Wistar rats received 10–15 injections of reserpine (0.1 mg/kg) or vehicle, on alternate days. We followed-up the estrous cycle phases and conducted motor and cognitive assessments (catalepsy, open field, oral movements and object recognition tests). The euthanasia occurred 48 h after the 10th or 15th injections, with the collection of blood for the quantification of sex hormones and brains for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunohistochemistry in the substantia nigra pars compact (SNpc). Reserpine induced progressive catalepsy, involuntary oral movements and cognitive deficits in male rats. The behavioral effects of reserpine were attenuated (motor) or absent (cognitive) in females. Reserpine decreased TH immunoreactivity in males, but not in females. Estrogen levels in females negatively correlated with catalepsy duration. Our findings show that females present a delay and/or a prevention in the reserpine-induced motor alterations in the progressive PD model, compatible with the lower prevalence of this disease in women. Further, females were protected from the deficit in object recognition at the prodromal stage. The absence of reserpine-induce decrease in TH immunoreactivity suggests that differences in dopaminergic function/plasticity are related to this protection in female sex.

Pyrophen, a natural product, is a pyrone derivative from L-phenylalanine and isolated from different Aspergillus species. This compound exhibits promising anticancer activity, and various studies on its synthesis and biological activity have been reported. Thus, this study aimed to understand the substrate-related factors that influence the production of pyrophen and fungal biomass. So, the endophytic fungus Aspergillus niger, isolated from the plant species Hancornia speciosa (commonly known as mangabeira), was cultivated in different culture media (PDB, CZAPEK, and mangaba juice), ethyl acetate extracts were obtained for these different culture media. A high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed with a PDA detector to quantify pyrophen in these different extracts. This method evaluated the effect of other varying culture media and fungal growth times on the yield of this substance. The highest yield was obtained with the mangaba juice, thus revealing that this medium was better for cultivation. Finally, evaluation of the effect of cultivation time in PDB (Potato Dextrose Broth) medium reveals that the ideal fermentation period to produce pyrophen.

The biosensor consists of an optical sensing system and an optoelectronic data acquisition system. The sensor’s optical system consists of a biochemically functionalized polymer optical fiber (POF-Plastic Optical Fiber) based on Field Evanescent technology. The Evanescent Field technique has been widely adopted in sensing and in this project, it was obtained by bending the fiber in a “U” shape, aiming to increase the sensitivity of the biosensor, through the contact of the curved sensor part with the sample biological. A data acquisition system was developed through an optoelectronic project aiming to increase the sensitivity when compared to a commercial equipment acquisition system. This work presents a biosensor for the detection of Escherichia coli based on an evanescent field with a polymer optical fiber linked to the analog signal acquisition system through an optoelectronic system developed. The interaction investigation of antibodies and antigens in Escherichia coli for computational methods was carried out in order to obtain information about the action of the antibody and in future steps applied in the validation of the diagnostic method.

Ocean resources are a priceless repository of unique species and bioactive compounds with denouement properties that can be used in the fabrication of advanced biomaterials as new templates for supporting the cell culture envisaging tissue engineering approaches. The collagen of marine origin can be sustainably isolated from the underrated fish processing industry by-products, while silica and related materials can be found in the spicules of marine sponges and diatoms frustules. Aiming to address the potential of biomaterials composed from marine collagen and silica-based materials in the context of bone regeneration, four different 3D porous structure formulations (COL, COL:BG, COL:D.E, and COL:BS) were fabricated by freeze-drying. The skins of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) were used as raw materials for the collagen (COL) isolation, which was successfully characterized by SDS-PAGE, FTIR, CD, and amino acid analyses, and identified as a type I collagen, produced with a 1.5% yield and a preserved characteristic triple helix conformation. Bioactive glass 45S5 bioglass® (BG), diatomaceous earth (D.E.) powder, and biosilica (BS) isolated from the Axinella infundibuliformis sponge were chosen as silica-based materials, which were obtained as microparticles and characterized by distinct morphological features. The biomaterials revealed microporous structures, showing a porosity higher than 85%, a mean pore size range of 138â 315 µm depending on their composition, with 70% interconnectivity which can be favorable for cell migration and ensure the needed nutrient supply. In vitro, biological assays were conducted by culturing L929 fibroblast-like cells, which confirmed not only the non-toxic nature of the developed biomaterials but also their capability to support cell adhesion and proliferation, particularly the COL:BS biomaterials, as observed by calcein-AM staining upon seven days of culture. Moreover, phalloidin and DAPI staining revealed well-spread cells, populating the entire construct. This study established marine collagen/silica biocomposites as potential scaffolds for tissue engineering, setting the basis for future studies, particularly envisaging the regeneration of non-load-bearing bone tissues., This research was funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under the projects SponGES (H2020-BG-01-2015-679849).

This article belongs to the Special Issue Tissue Engineered Biomaterials and Drug Delivery Systems., [Background]: Peripheral nerve injuries represent a major clinical challenge. If nerve ends retract, there is no spontaneous regeneration and grafts are required to proximate the nerve ends and give continuity to the nerve., [Methods]: GDNF-loaded NPs were characterized physicochemically. For that, NPs stability at different pH’s was assessed, and GDNF release was studied through ELISA. In vitro studies are performed with Schwann cells, and the NPs are labeled with fluorescein-5(6)-isothiocyanate for uptake experiments with SH-SY5Y neural cells., [Results]: GDNF-loaded NPs are stable in physiological conditions, releasing GDNF in a two-step profile, which is beneficial for nerve repair. Cell viability is improved after 1 day of culture, and the uptake is near 99.97% after 3 days of incubation., [Conclusions]: The present work shows the efficiency of using CMCht/PAMAM NPs as a GDNF-release system to act on peripheral nerve regeneration., This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the funds provided under the distinction attributed to JMO (IF/01285/2015) and the project NanOptoNerv (ref. PTDC/NAN-MAT/29936/2017). The work was also supported by the European Commission and FEDER program, the JUSTHera project (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000055), and the 0624_2IQBIONEURO_6_E project (Inter-regional cooperation program VA Spain-Portugal POCTEP 2014-2020).

Collagen is a ubiquitous protein present in the extracellular matrix of all major metazoan animals, with approximately 28 different human collagen types described in the literature, each with unique physicochemical properties. Collagens found broad application in the cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical fields and can be isolated from environmentally sustainable sources such as marine byproducts, which are abundant in the fish processing industry and are highly appealing low-cost sources. In this study, marine collagen was isolated from the skins of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides), an unexplored byproduct from fish processing plants, using three different collagen extraction methods, due to the use of distinct salting-out methods using a solution of 2.6 M NaCl + 0.05 M Tris-HCl pH = 7.5, (method I); a combination of 0.7 M NaCl followed by a solution of 2.3 M NaCl + 0.05 M Tris-HCl pH = 7.5 (method II); and one method using only 0.9 M NaCl (method III), yielding COLRp_I, COLRp_II, and COLRp_III collagens. These extracted type I collagens were produced with a yield of around 2 and 4% and characterized regarding the physicochemical properties, considering possible biotechnological applications. This work evidenced that the typical triple helix structure conformation was preserved in all extraction methods, but influenced the thermal behavior, intrinsic morphology, and moisture capacity of the collagens, with interest for biotechnological application, as the incorporation as an ingredient in cosmetic formulation. Furthermore, the use of collagen isolated from skin byproducts represents a high economic value with decreasing collagen cost for industrial purposes and is also an environmentally sustainable source for industrial uses., This research was funded by the European Union Transborder Cooperation Programme Interreg Espana-Portugal 2014-2020 (POCTEP), within the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the project 0302_CVMAR_I_1_P.

Politics in different countries show diverse degrees of polarization, which tends to be stronger on social media, given how easy it became to connect and engage with like-minded individuals on the web. A way of reducing polarization would be by distributing cross-partisan news among individuals with distinct political orientations, i.e., “reaching the bubbles”. This study investigates whether this holds in the context of nationwide elections in Brazil and Canada. We collected politics-related tweets shared during the 2018 Brazilian presidential election and the 2019 Canadian federal election. Next, we proposed an updated centrality metric that enables identifying highly central bubble reachers, nodes that can distribute content among users with diverging political opinions—a fundamental metric for the proposed study. After that, we analyzed how users engage with news content shared by bubble reachers, its source, and its topics, considering its political orientation. Among other results, we found that, even though news media disseminate content that interests different sides of the political spectrum, users tend to engage considerably more with content that aligns with their political orientation, regardless of the topic.

Facial expressions are of utmost importance in social interactions, allowing communicative prompts for a speaking turn and feedback. Nevertheless, not all have the ability to express themselves socially and emotionally in verbal and non-verbal communication. In particular, individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by impairments in social communication, repetitive patterns of behaviour, and restricted activities or interests. In the literature, the use of robotic tools is reported to promote social interaction with children with ASD. The main goal of this work is to develop a system capable of automatic detecting emotions through facial expressions and interfacing them with a robotic platform (Zeno R50 Robokind® robotic platform, named ZECA) in order to allow social interaction with children with ASD. ZECA was used as a mediator in social communication activities. The experimental setup and methodology for a real-time facial expression (happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and neutral) recognition system was based on the Intel® RealSense™ 3D sensor and on facial features extraction and multiclass Support Vector Machine classifier. The results obtained allowed to infer that the proposed system is adequate in support sessions with children with ASD, giving a strong indication that it may be used in fostering emotion recognition and imitation skills., Centro Algoritmi & CIEd. CT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. Vinicius Silva thanks FCT for the PhD scholarship SFRH/BD/SFRH/BD/133314/2017.

This article presents the development of an inclinometer device based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer considering the effects caused by temperature variations. It was demonstrated the operation of a LPG-taper system for angle measurements. The practical results satisfactorily show reliable inclination measures, even with the cross sensibility effect caused by variable temperature.

Although democratic governance imposes temporal constraints, the timing of government policy making activities such as bill initiation is still poorly understood. This holds especially under coalition governments, in which government bills need to find approval by a partner party in parliament. We propose a dynamic temporal perspective in which ministers do not know whether they face a cooperative or competitive partner at the beginning of a term, but they learn this over time and use their agenda control to time further bill initiation in response. A circular regression analysis using data on more than 25,000 government bills from 11 parliamentary democracies over 30 years supports this temporal perspective, showing that ministers initiate bills later in the term when their previous bills have experienced greater scrutiny. Ministers further delay bill initiation when coalition parties’ incentives to deviate from compromise increase and when they have less power to constrain their bills’ scrutiny.

O estudo do comportamento de turistas é estratégico para melhoria dos serviços nesse competitivo segmento econômico. Trabalhos atuais geralmente exploram essa questão usando dados tradicionais, como questionários. Esse tipo de fonte fornece informações valiosas, no entanto, sofre com escalabilidade e abrangência. Uma fonte alternativa que minimiza esses problemas é obtida pelas redes sociais baseadas em localização (LBSNs). No entanto, para o uso apropriado desses dados é necessário averiguar se o comportamento capturado nessas redes reflete de maneira satisfatória o comportamento real medido com dados tradicionais. Assim, o presente trabalho visa validar se o fluxo internacional de turistas capturado com uma LBSN reflete de maneira satisfatória o comportamento real medido com dados tradicionais. Resultados iniciais sugerem que os dados LBSNs representam notavelmente bem o comportamento estudado e que podem habilitar pesquisas sobre a mobilidade desses turistas.

Marine polysaccharides are interesting bioactive compounds that should be further explored for the development of functional nanostructures, towards more target systems, to reduce the side effects that cancer patients often experience and improve the therapeutic outcome., The authors would like to acknowledge the project 'BLUEBIOLAB - Laboratorio Transfronterizo de Biotecnologia Marina' - 0474_BLUEBIOLAB_1_E, financed by the European Regional Development Fund through INTERREG Espana-Portugal 2014-2020. RL Reis is a member of the Nanomedicine Editorial Board. They were not involved in any editorial decisions related to the publication of this article. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Mucositis is an adverse effect of cancer chemotherapies using 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU). It is characterized by mucosal inflammation, pain, diarrhea, and weight loss. Some studies reported promising healing effects of probiotic strains, when associated with prebiotics, as adjuvant treatment of mucositis. We developed a lyophilized symbiotic product, containing skimmed milk, supplemented with whey protein isolate (WPI) and with fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and fermented by Lactobacillus casei BL23, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum B7, and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus B1. In a mice 5-FU mucositis model, this symbiotic lyophilized formulation was able to reduce weight loss and intestinal permeability. This last was determined in vivo by quantifying blood radioactivity after oral administration of 99mTc-DTPA. Finally, histological damages caused by 5-FU-induced mucositis were monitored. Consumption of the symbiotic formulation caused a reduced score of inflammation in the duodenum, ileum, and colon. In addition, it decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, and TNF-α in the mice ileum. The symbiotic product developed in this work thus represents a promising adjuvant treatment of mucositis.

Microencapsulating pancreatic islets in immunoprotective hydrogels is a promising cellular therapy for type 1 diabetes. However, a major factor limiting the encapsulated islet efficacy is inflammatory/hypoxia mediated oxidative stress, resulting in impaired insulin secretion and ultimately islet cell death. Fucoidan, a natural polysaccharide, possess strong anti-oxidant properties but its effects on beta cells and encapsulation is unknown. Here, we assessed the anti-oxidant effect of fucoidan on beta cells and its effect on encapsulated beta cell viability and function, using fucoidans extracted from two different seaweeds, namely Fucus vesiculosus (FF) and Ascophyllum nodosum (FA). FF exhibited significantly higher total antioxidant capacity and free radical scavenging activity, significantly alleviating intracellular oxidative stress in INS1E beta cells, when compared to FA. In presence of high glucose, FF fucoidans significantly increased insulin secretion both in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Viability, ATP levels and high-glucose responsiveness of rat islets encapsulated in fucoidan-containing hydrogel (Fucogel) microcapsules were significantly higher compared to those encapsulated in pure alginate microcapsules. Similar results were obtained with INS1E pseudo-islets and neonatal pig islets. Fucogels can provide a redox-modulatory niche and an immune barrier in the same time, presenting as an outstanding biomaterial for bioengineered immunoprotective beta cell replacement devices.

Accepted Manuscript, Marine polymers such as collagen, chitosan, and fucoidan can be combined to form ionic-linked hydrogel networks towards applications in tissue engineering (TE). The use of greener approaches (as determined by green metrics â E-factor), including the absence of external chemical cross-linking agents, has advantages regarding the potential cytotoxicity. By tailoring the formulation of such an ionic-linked hydrogel, it is possible to fine-tune scaffold biofunctionality. In this study, a comparative study of composite hydrogels was accomplished, seeking to understand the correlation between polymer characteristics and physical behaviour to develop the applicability of this technology in soft-to-hard TE. Parameters such as polymer concentration, molecular weight, polymer-biomaterials bonds, biomaterial structural architecture, pore size, and mechanical rheological properties were directly correlated to the hydrogelâ s formulation. The results highlight that the formulation with greatest potential was the 3-component hydrogel (H12, followed by H10, H11), due to its superior mechanical properties, making it suitable for cartilage TE. This research offers a valuable perspective on hydrogel formulation and a new processing methodology, as well as how tailoring the hydrogel composition influences mechanical behaviour to support selecting the best composition for tissue engineering applications., The authors would like to acknowledge to Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) for a Ph.D. fellowship (D. N. Carvalho) under the scope of the doctoral program Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells, ref. PD/BD/143044/2018, and for Postdoctoral fellowship (C. Goncalves), ref. SFRH/BPD/94277/2013. This work has been partially funded by ERDF under the scope of the Atlantic Area Program through project EAPA_151/2016 (BLUEHUMAN). The authors also thank Jellagen Ltd (UK) for the provision of purified jellyfish collagen. The authors would also like to acknowledge Dr Julio Maroto from the Fundacion CETMAR and Roi Vilela from PESCANOVA S.A, Spain, for the kind offer of squid pens, and to Lara L. Reys for the initial chitosan extraction process.

In the scope of the Future Circular electron positron Collider study (FCC-ee), the IDEA detector is developed. It comprises a superconducting solenoid with free bore of 4 m, 6 m long and a central magnetic field of 2 T. The positioning of the magnet between the inner tracker and the electronic calorimeter heavily constrains the magnet design, as it is required to have the lowest possible radiation length, so minimum thickness and lowest density material. With respect to the classical solution of a solenoid enclosing the calorimeters, a cost reduction of about 50% is expected due to size reduction. An optimization of the different components of the magnet system has been carried out, resulting in the development of a new composite high-strength conductor that can be used to build a 30 mm thin solenoid. The quench analysis of the solenoid will be presented as it is of critical importance given the high energy density in the magnet of 21 kJ/kg. A cryostat made of concentric aluminium shells would account for about 50% of the radiation length of the magnet and most of this material is used in the outer vacuum shell of the cryostat to prevent buckling. In order to further reduce the radiation length, two fundamentally different approaches are being analysed. The first method focuses on reducing drastically the outer shell thickness. This leads to use honeycomb composites, reinforcing bars and corrugated shells for the outer shell of the cryostat. The second approach consists of supporting very thin cryostat shells directly on the solenoid cold mass using proper support. This can be achieved by replacing the thick walls and MLI insulation by a material that can sustain 1 atm while having low radiation length and low thermal conductivity. Cryogel Z has shown promising properties and its suitability for this project is being analysed. This novel approach has never been used so far for superconducting magnets.

The present study verifies the possibility of analyzing pollutants in an open-channel stream using deep learning algorithms through image analysis. For that, external flow images with and without pollutant, which were obtained with a water table apparatus that is instrumented with a camera and syringes responsible for disposing dyes of different colors into the base flowing stream (water), are recorded–the different dyes mimic distinct types of pollutants. The images obtained are pre-processed using well-known dimensionality reduction techniques and used to train, validate and test mainly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). Three were the main goals of the analysis: (i) to determine the presence of pollutant, (ii) to quantify the amount of pollutant disposed and finally, (iii) to determine the pollutant flow pattern, i.e., dripping or jetting. The pollutant detection analysis performed with the CNN indicated that the F-score value is above 94%. As for the load quantification, the mean absolute percentage error is slightly above 9% for a single pollutant and slightly above 7% when three pollutants are disposed simultaneously. It is worth mentioning that the larger errors are associated with smaller pollutant loads for both cases. Finally, as for the flow pattern classification, the CNN showed accuracies of approximately 92%. Hence, for the three variables described above CNN were indeed capable of accurately interpreting images and classifying or quantifying relevant pollutant flow parameters.

Implantation of biomaterials and hybrid constructs in tissue engineering approaches presents major limitations such as inflammatory reaction and the lack of vasculature integration. Therefore, new strategies are needed to enhance implant function, immune protection, and revascularization. In this work, we developed fibrous meshes composed of fucoidan (Fu), a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from brown algae, and polycaprolactone (PCL), a synthetic biodegradable polymer, using the airbrush technique. The chemical characterization by FTIR, EDS, and XPS confirmed the presence of the two polymers in the structure of airbrushed nanofibrous meshes (ANFM). Moreover, these nanofibrous exhibited good wettability and mechanical properties envisaging their application as templates for biomaterials and cell culture. The developed ANFM were directly cultured with human pulmonary microvascular endothelial (HPMEC-ST1.6R) cells for up to 7 days. Biological results demonstrated that ANFM comprising Fu promoted cellular attachment, spreading, and proliferation of human endothelial cells. The angiogenic potential of ANFM was further evaluated by onplantation of PCL and PCL/Fu ANFM in chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). In ovo and ex ovo results showed that the incorporation of Fu increased the proangiogenic potential of ANFM. Altogether, the results suggest that airbrush biocomposite meshes could be used as a biomaterial substrate to promote vascularization., Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through Structured projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000021 and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023. Financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) is also acknowledged through PhD fellowship SFRH/BD/112139/2015 and R&D&I projects PTDC/CTM-CTM/29813/2017 and PTDC/BII-BIO/31570/2017.

A simple low-cost methodology for assessing beer bitterness using the IBU (International Bitterness Units) scale has been developed. The experimental setup is composed of a UV source, a fluorescent material and a digital single-lens reflex camera. The main concept of the method involves estimating the UV attenuation through IBU solution samples, by comparing the resulting fluorescence instead of the direct UV data obtained with a spectrophotometer. This significantly lowers the cost of the IBU measurement, allowing the hop bitterness values to be directly obtained from simple processing of the fluorescence images. For validation purposes, all values were compared to traditional measurements made with a spectrophotometer. A calibration procedure was carried out using samples with different iso-alpha-acid concentrations, which were naturally measured with the traditional IBU methodology. Finally, for illustrating the application of the novel method, commercial beers were analyzed using the traditional approach and compared with the proposed methodology. The results yielded a root mean square error of predicted samples below 3 IBUs, which demonstrates the potential of the proposed alternative.

The switch from hunting wild meat for home consumption to supplying more lucrative city markets in Amazonia can adversely affect some game species. Despite this, information on the amounts of wild meat eaten in Amazonian cities is still limited. We estimated wild meat consumption rates in 5 cities in the State of Amazonas in Brazil through 1046 door-to-door household interviews conducted from 2004 to 2012. With these data, we modeled the relationship between wild meat use and a selection of socioeconomic indices. We then scaled up our model to determine the amounts of wild meat likely to be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers in central Amazonia. A total of 80.3% of all interviewees reported consuming wild meat during an average of 29.3 (CI 11.6) days per year. Most wild meat was reported as bought in local markets (80.1%) or hunted by a family member (14.9%). Twenty-one taxa were cited as consumed, mostly mammals (71.6%), followed by reptiles (23.2%) and then birds (5.2%). The declared frequency of wild meat consumption was positively correlated with the proportion of rural population as well as with the per capita gross domestic product of the municipality (administrative divisions) where the cities were seated. We estimated that as much as 10,691 t of wild meat might be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers within central Amazonia, the equivalent of 6.49 kg per person per year. In monetary terms, this amounts to US$21.72 per person per year or US$35.1 million overall, the latter figure is comparable to fish and timber production in the region. Given this magnitude of wild meat trade in central Amazonia, it is fundamental to integrate this activity into the formal economy and actively develop policies that allow the trade of more resilient taxa and restrict trade in species sensitive to hunting.Mercado y Consumo Urbano de Carne Silvestre en la Amazonia Central Resumen El cambio de la caza de animales silvestres para consumo del hogar a caza para surtir mercados urbanos más lucrativos en la Amazonia puede afectar negativamente a algunas especies de caza. A pesar de esto, la información sobre la cantidad de carne silvestre que se consume en las ciudades de la Amazonia todavía es limitada. Estimamos las tasas de consumo de carne silvestre en cinco ciudades del Estado de Amazonas, Brasil, por medio de 1046 entrevistas presenciales a hogares realizadas entre 2004 y 2012. Con estos datos modelamos la relación entre el uso de la carne silvestre y una selección de índices socioeconómicos. Después aumentamos nuestro modelo para determinar la cantidad de carne silvestre que tal vez se consume anualmente en los 62 centros urbanos de la Amazonia central. Un total de 80.3% de todos los entrevistados reportaron el consumo de carne silvestre durante un promedio de 29.3 (CI 11.6) días por año. La mayoría de la carne silvestre fue reportada como comprada en mercados locales (80.1%) o cazada por algún integrante de la familia (14.9%). Se citaron 21 taxones como parte del consumo, principalmente mamíferos (71.6%), seguidos por reptiles (23.2%) y aves (5.2%). La frecuencia declarada de consumo de carne silvestre estuvo correlacionada positivamente con la proporción de población rural, así como con el producto doméstico bruto per cápita de la municipalidad (divisiones administrativas) en donde se encuentran las ciudades. Estimamos que un máximo de 10,691 toneladas de carne silvestre podrían ser consumidas anualmente en los 62 centros urbanos de la Amazonia central, el equivalente a 6.49 kg/persona/año. En términos monetarios, esto equivale a US$21.72/persona/año o US$35.1 millones en general. Esta última cifra es comparable con la producción de madera y de peces en la región. Dada esta magnitud del mercado de carne silvestre en la Amazonia central, es fundamental la integración de esta actividad en la economía formal y el desarrollo activo de políticas que permitan el mercado de taxones más resilientes y que restrinjan el mercado para las especies sensibles a la caza.在亚马逊地区, 对野生动物的狩猎从供家庭食用到供应利润更高的城市市场的转变, 可能对一些狩猎物种产生负面影响。尽管如此, 关于亚马逊城市食用野生动物肉类的数量信息仍然很少。我们通过 2004-2012 年间的 1046 次上门访问, 估计了巴西亚马逊州五个城市的野生动物肉类食用量, 并利用这些数据分析了野生动物肉类利用与一些社会经济指数的关系。接下来, 我们利用这个模型模拟了亚马逊中部六十二个城市中心区每年的野生动物肉类食用量。结果显示, 总计 80.3% 的受访者报告每年平均 29.3 天 (CI为 11.6 天) 食用野生动物肉; 大部分肉类购自当地市场 (80.1%) 或由家庭成员狩猎获得 (14.9%) ; 食用的肉类来自二十一个类群, 主要是哺乳动物 (71.6%) 、爬行动物 (23.2%) 和鸟类 (5.2%) ; 野生动物肉类的食用频率与农村人口比例及其城市所在行政区的人均国内生产总值呈正相关。我们估计亚马逊中部地区六十二个城市中心区每年野生动物肉的食用量高达 10691 吨, 相当于每人每年食用 6.49 千克。按货币计算, 即每人每年食用 21.58 美元的野生动物肉, 或每年总计食用 3510 万美元的肉类, 后者相当于该地区采矿及木材生产总额。鉴于亚马逊中部地区野生动物肉类交易的规模之大, 应将这一活动纳入正式经济活动, 积极制定政策来支持开展那些较强恢复能力物种的交易, 而限制交易对狩猎敏感的物种。【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】.

Internet of Things (IoT) has gained increasing visibility among emerging technologies and undoubtedly changing our daily life. Its adoption is strengthened by the growth of connected devices (things) as shown in recent statistics. However, as the number of connected things grows, responsibility related to security aspects also needs to increase. For instance, cyberattacks might happen if simple authentication mechanisms are not implemented on IoT applications, or if access control mechanisms are weakly defined. Considering the relevance of the subject, we performed a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify and synthesize security issues in IoT discussed in scientific papers published within a period of 8 years. Our literature review focused on four main security aspects, namely authentication, access control, data protection, and trust. We believe that a study considering these topics has the potential to reveal important opportunities and trends related to IoT security. In particular, we aim to identify open issues and technological trends that might guide future studies in this field, thus providing useful material both to researchers and to managers and developers of IoT systems. In this paper, we describe the protocol adopted to perform the SLR and present the state-of-the-art on the field by describing the main techniques reported in the retrieved studies. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first study to compile information on a comprehensive set of security aspects in IoT. Moreover, we discuss the placement, in terms of architectural tiers, for deploying security techniques, in an attempt to provide guidelines to help design decisions of security solution developers. We summarize our results showing security trends and research gaps that can be explored in future studies.

We argue that wealthy elites in democracies can limit their taxes by constraining the fiscal capacity of the state. Corrupting local officials and undermining fiscal capacity are some of the mechan...

Voiding abnormalities are common among the sickle cell disease (SCD) population, among which overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome is observed at rates as high as 39%. Although detrusor overactivity is the most common cause of OAB, its molecular pathophysiology is not well elucidated. The nitric oxide (NO) signaling pathway has been implicated in the regulation of lower genitourinary tract function. In the present study, we evaluated the role of the NO signaling pathway in voiding function of transgenic SCD mice compared with combined endothelial and neuronal NO synthase gene-deficient mice, both serving as models of NO deficiency. Mice underwent void spot assay and cystometry, and bladder and urethral specimens were studied using in vitro tissue myography. Both mouse models exhibited increased void volumes; increased nonvoiding and voiding contraction frequencies; decreased bladder compliance; increased detrusor smooth muscle contraction responses to electrical field stimulation, KCl, and carbachol; and increased urethral smooth muscle relaxation responses to sodium nitroprusside compared with WT mice. In conclusion, our comprehensive behavioral and functional study of the SCD mouse lower genitourinary tract, in correlation with that of the NO-deficient mouse, reveals NO effector actions in voiding function and suggests that NO signaling derangements are associated with an OAB phenotype. These findings may allow further study of molecular targets for the characterization and evaluation of OAB.

This study examined how chronic anthropogenic disturbance impacts the spatiotemporal dynamics of ant foraging activity and the role played by behavioral traits. Ten plots (0.1 ha) along a gradient of chronic disturbance intensity were sampled in Catimbau National Park (Caatinga vegetation, Brazil). Vegetative structure, ground surface temperature, and ant communities in shaded and sun-exposed microhabitats were characterized during the day and at night. Each ant species’ degree of nocturnality and shaded microhabitat use were determined. Along the disturbance gradient, the frequency of sun-exposed microhabitats increased, as did the daytime ground surface temperatures; also, community composition, but not ant abundance or species richness, changed. Independent of disturbance intensity, community composition differed between day and night, and ant abundance and species richness were higher during the day. Interestingly, most species did not display strictly diurnal habits, nor did they avoid foraging in sun-exposed habitats. However, species common in more disturbed areas were more diurnal and used sun-exposed microhabitats more than species common in less disturbed areas. Many species displayed marked behavioral plasticity that was unrelated to disturbance intensity. Disturbance intensity did influence shaded microhabitat use but not the degree of nocturnality. We conclude that Caatinga ants are already morphologically, behaviorally and physiologically adapted to harsh environmental conditions; that species with different behavioral traits replace each other along the disturbance gradient; and that more plastic species can persist by shifting their microhabitat use.