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Em Biologia, a célula é considerada a unidade funcional dos seres vivos. Seus constituintes são fundamentalmente material genético, citoplasma e membrana plasmática. Estes três componentes estruturais exercem, dentre outros papéis biológicos, reprodução e manutenção celular, suporte à atividade metabólica e manutenção da barreira físico-química. Portanto, para a compreensão da fisiologia e estrutura celular, é imperativo o estudo dos processos em que esses componentes estão envolvidos, que nos cursos de ensino superior são abordados principalmente nas disciplinas de Biologia Celular e Molecular. Grande parte do conteúdo dessas disciplinas é dedicada ao estudo da estrutura, composição e evolução da membrana plasmática, muitas vezes referida de forma genérica como membrana celular. Em alguns clados em Archaea, um dos três domínios da vida, a membrana celular promove características fisiológicas únicas que permitem o sucesso evolutivo de tais grupos e sua sobrevivência em ambientes inóspitos para outras formas de vida. Nestas células, as membranas plasmáticas diferem estruturalmente das membranas dos domínios Bacteria e Eukaria por se organizarem em monocamada, apresentarem variações no tamanho das cadeias carbônicas alifáticas, nas ligações carbono-carbono e possuírem componentes estruturais exclusivos, como por exemplo os Glicerol-dialkil-glicerol-tetraéteres (GDGTs) e os Arqueóis. Infelizmente, pouca importância é dada ao domínio Archaea nos cursos que são oferecidos a alunos de Ciências Biológicas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi compilar informações sobre a membrana de Archaea e suplementar o atual repertório literário usado para o ensino dos módulos referentes à membrana plasmática nas disciplinas de Biologia Celular e Molecular no Brasil.

The question concerning the meaning of life is important, but it immediately confronts the present authors with insurmountable obstacles from a philosophical standpoint, as it would require us to define not only what we hold to be life, but what we hold to be meaning in addition, requiring us to do both in a properly researched context. We unconditionally surrender to that challenge. Instead, we offer a vernacular, armchair approach to life’s origin and meaning, with some layman’s thoughts on the meaning of origins as viewed from the biologist’s standpoint. One can observe that biologists generally approach the concept of biological meaning in the context of evolution. This is the basis for the broad resonance behind Dobzhansky’s appraisal that “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. Biologists try to understand living things in the historical context of how they arose, without giving much thought to the definition of what life or living things are, which for a biologist is usually not an interesting question in the practical context of daily dealings with organisms. Do humans generally understand life’s meaning in the context of history? If we consider the problem of life’s origin, the question of what constitutes a living thing becomes somewhat more acute for the biologist, though not more answerable, because it is inescapable that there was a time when there were no organisms on Earth, followed by a time when there were, the latter time having persisted in continuity to the present. This raises the question of where, in that transition, chemicals on Earth became alive, requiring, in turn, a set of premises for how life arose in order to conceptualize the problem in relation to organisms we know today, including ourselves, which brings us to the point of this paper: In the same way that cultural narratives for origins always start with a setting, scientific narratives for origins also always start with a setting, a place on Earth or elsewhere where we can imagine what happened for the sake of structuring both the problem and the narrative for its solution. This raises the question of whether scientific origins settings convey meaning to humans in that they suggest to us from what kind of place and what kinds of chemicals we are descended, that is, to which inanimate things we are most closely related.

The metabolism of cells contains evidence reflecting the process by which they arose. Here, we have identified the ancient core of autotrophic metabolism encompassing 404 reactions that comprise the reaction network from H2, CO2, and ammonia (NH3) to amino acids, nucleic acid monomers, and the 19 cofactors required for their synthesis. Water is the most common reactant in the autotrophic core, indicating that the core arose in an aqueous environment. Seventy-seven core reactions involve the hydrolysis of high-energy phosphate bonds, furthermore suggesting the presence of a non-enzymatic and highly exergonic chemical reaction capable of continuously synthesizing activated phosphate bonds. CO2 is the most common carbon-containing compound in the core. An abundance of NADH and NADPH-dependent redox reactions in the autotrophic core, the central role of CO2, and the circumstance that the core’s main products are far more reduced than CO2 indicate that the core arose in a highly reducing environment. The chemical reactions of the autotrophic core suggest that it arose from H2, inorganic carbon, and NH3 in an aqueous environment marked by highly reducing and continuously far from equilibrium conditions. Such conditions are very similar to those found in serpentinizing hydrothermal systems.

ABSTRACT. Luz M.A., Bezerra D.A., Silva R.R., Guerreiro A.N., Seixas L.S., Bastos R.K.G., Mascarenhas J. D’Arc P., Moraes C.C.G., Souza N.F. & Meneses A.M.C. [Rotavirus research in Amazon wild birds kept in captivity in the state of Pará, Brazil.] Pesquisa de rotavírus em aves silvestres da região amazônica mantidas em cativeiro no estado do Pará, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária, 36(2):167-173, 2014. Instituto da Saúde e Produção animal na Amazônia, Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Avenida Presidente Tancredo Neves, 2501, Montese, Belém, PA 66077-901, Brasil. E-mail: monique.luz@ufra.edu.br This study aimed to investigate rotavirus in wild birds kept in captivity at Pará State, to detect and characterize the electropherotypes groups of circulating rotaviruses and investigate A and D rotavirus groups presence in fecal specimens of these birds. Fecal samples were collected at Fazenda Paricuiã (Terra Alta / PA, Brazil), in Jardim Zoobotânico da Amazônia Bosque Rodrigues Alves, Parque Ecológico Mangal das Garças, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) and Bioparque Amazônia Crocodilo Safari in Belém/Pará/Brazil, between March 2011 and February 2012. Were collected fecal samples from 83 birds belonging to the orders: Psittaciformes (Family Psittacidae), Ciconiformes (Ardeidae and Threskiornithidae families) and Falconiformes (Family Accipitridae). Fecal suspensions were prepared from samples collected, with subsequent extraction of viral dsRNA, which was subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed with specific primers for amplification of NSP4 gene of A rotavirus and VP6 gene of D rotavirus. All samples were negative by both EGPA and by RT-PCR, requiring, however, further studies aimed in wild birds kept in captivity to determine the role of these species in the rotavirus epidemiology.

The possibility of synthesizing a new hybrid phosphor CSSC (mixture of 0.5 CaSrSiO4:Eu2+: 0.29 Ca6Sr4Si6O21Cl2:Eu2+: 0.21 Ca10Si6O21Cl2:Eu2+) using a one-step microwave synthesis method is demonstrated. The concentrations of europium and calcium in the synthesized phosphors were optimized at 1 and 10 mol. %, respectively, to achieve maximum brightness and color rendering index. The optimal conditions for the synthesis of phosphors in a microwave furnace were determined as 750 °C for 10 min. The resulting phosphor exhibited a wide luminescence spectrum that covered the entire visible region, resulting in a high color rendering index and a warm white luminescence when used as a light source. It is shown that the sol–gel method for preparing the charge mixture for the new phosphor allows for a 35% higher luminescence brightness compared to the solid-phase method, due to a more uniform distribution of the activator.

This work presents the results of studying dilute aqueous solutions of commercial Ln(NO3)3 · xH2O salts with Ln = Ce-Lu using X-ray diffraction (XRD), IR spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS: EXAFS/XANES), and pH measurements. As a reference point, XRD and XAS measurements for characterized Ln(NO3)3 · xH2O microcrystalline powder samples were performed. The local structure of Ln-nitrate complexes in 20 mM Ln(NO3)3 · xH2O aqueous solution was studied under total external reflection conditions and EXAFS geometry was applied to obtain high-quality EXAFS data for solutions with low concentrations of Ln3+ ions. Results obtained by EXAFS spectroscopy showed significant contraction of the first coordination sphere during the dissolution process for metal ions located in the middle of the lanthanide series. It was established that in Ln(NO3)3 · xH2O solutions with Ln = Ce, Sm, Gd, Yb (c = 134, 100, 50 and 20 mM) there are coordinated and, to a greater extent, non-coordinated nitrate groups with bidentate and predominantly monodentate bonds with Ln ions, the number of which increases upon transition from cerium to ytterbium. For the first time, the antibacterial and antifungal activity of Ln(NO3)3 · xH2O Ln = Ce, Sm, Gd, Tb, Yb solutions with different concentrations and pH was presented. Cross-relationships between the concentration of solutions and antimicrobial activity with the type of Ln = Ce, Sm, Gd, Tb, Yb were established, as well as the absence of biocidal properties of solutions with a concentration of 20 mM, except for Ln = Yb. The important role of experimental conditions in obtaining and interpreting the results was noted.

The purpose of the study was to establish dependence of sunflower productivity on hybrid plasticity under the climatic conditions of the Steppe zone and effectiveness of growth-regulators on the basis of the analysis of differentiation of a vegetation index. The research on the development and productivity of different sunflower hybrids under the natural-climatic conditions of the Steppe zone of Ukraine was conducted in the years of 2019 (medium-wet), 2020 (dry) and 2021 (wet). Spatio-temporal differentiation of the vegetation of sunflower hybrids was established on the basis of calculation of a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) using the data of the decoded space images of Sentinel 2. Cartographic and grapho-analytical materials reflecting the reaction of plants to natural-climatic conditions and multifunctional growth-regulators were obtained. The dependence of the reaction of sunflower hybrids to multifunctional growth-regulators on their plasticity in response to the natural-climatic conditions of the Steppe zone was established. There was a weak reaction to application of growth-regulators of the sunflower hybrids Oplot and P64HE133 which are characterized by a high level of plasticity in response to the natural-climatic conditions of the Steppe zone. It was proven that the application of the biological preparation Helafit Combi exceeded the level of agrocenoses productivity in comparison with the chemical preparation ArchitectТМ by 1.1-5.4%. It was established that foliar treatment with growth-regulators led to a decline in water uptake by the sunflower hybrids by 1.2–10.0% in the dry year, by 3.8–8.6% in the medium-wet year and by 3.7%–21.9% in the wet year. There was a significant reduction in the level of water uptake by the hybrid Hector – by 7.7-10.0% and the hybrid 8KH477KL – by 1.2–21.9%.The research results are the basis for forecasting the development of sunflower hybrid crops with further measurement of the crop productivity that allows establishing a probable level of efficiency of sunflower hybrid production by agricultural producers under the climatic conditions of the Steppe zone.

The article is devoted to establishing the influence of multifunctional environmentally friendly growth-regulating preparations on the phytosanitary state of agrocenoses of various types of wheat varieties and their productivity in non-irrigated conditions of the steppe zone of Ukraine. Field studies were conducted during 2016-2020 yrsin two agroclimatic points of the steppe zone: such as in the experimental field of the Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University (GPS: 46.743447, 32.481064 Kherson, Ukraine – point 1) and the land use of the farm "Svetlana" (GPS: 47.635522, 32.099772 Vossiyatskoye Village, Mykolaiv region, Ukraine-point 2) in non – irrigated conditions. The implementation of the scientific research program was carried out by laying three – factor experiments in these agroecological points, where Factor A was the varieties of winter wheat – Khersonska 99, Kirena, Askaniyska, Mudrist, Clarissa, Khutoryanka; variants of Factor B: growth – regulating preparations-VuksalMicroplant, Helafit Combi, Phytomare, without cultivation (control); variants of factor C: terms of sowing winter wheat-10.09, 20.09, 30.09 and 10.10. Studies established that the use of multifunctional growth-regulating preparations helped to reduce the level of plant damage by pathogenic microflora at all sowing periods and varieties of winter wheat. Phytomare and Helafit Combi were the most effective in this direction under various growing conditions. In most cases, they reduced the degree of damage to winter wheat plants by pathogenic microflora by 40-50% or more. All applied growth regulators increased the mass of grain from the ear and the mass of 1000 grains at different sowing times. It was found that for five years of field research, the greatest increase in yield under different research conditions and different varieties was shown by the preparation Helafit Combi. When it was applied in the experimental field of the Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University, the yield was additionally formed from 0.22 up to 0.5 t/ha, in the field of FG "Svetlana", respectively, it was formed 0.14 up to 0.36 t/ha.

The article is devoted to highlighting the results of field studies conducted during 2019-2021 yrs on the influence of multifunctional growth-regulating drugs with a fungicidal effect Architecttm and Helafit Combi on the productivity and optimization of water consumption of high-oleic sunflower hybrids in non-irrigated conditions of the steppe zone of Ukraine. The study was carried out under non-irrigated conditions in the experimental field of the state institution "Mykolaiv DSDS IZZ NAAS" of Ukraine (GPS: 46.980168, 32.148075) on Southern low-humus chernozems. The program of scientific research provided for the foundation of a two – factor field experiment, in which sunflower hybrids were studied as these are Hector and Oplot (originator-V. Y. Yuryev Institute of crop production); DSL403 and P64GE133 (manufacturer Corteva, Brevant) and 8X477KL (manufacturer Dow Seeds). In the experiment, multifunctional growth – regulating preparations of chemical origin Architecttm and biological origin Helafit Combi were used, they were introduced in the form of foliar treatments of sunflower hybrids in the Phase 6-8 of real leaves with a rate of 1 l/ha. As for the weather conditions of the 2019-2021 research years, they can be classified as medium – arid typical for this growing zone, but the most favorable year was 2021 yr. As for the temperature indicators, the average monthly air temperature for the study years was higher than the corresponding long-term average data. The results of three-year field studies showed that foliar treatments of sunflower hybrids of high-oleic type with multifunctional preparations Architect and Helafit Combi had a positive effect on improving growing conditions and increasing plant resistance to stress from high temperatures and lack of moisture. The study preparations contribute to a more economical use of soil moisture for the formation of a crop unit, as evidenced by a decrease in the water consumption coefficient for all the studied hybrids. The lowest water consumption coefficient of 1283 m3/t was found in the hybrid P64GE133 under the conditions of treatment of sunflower plants with a combined preparation of biological origin Helafit Combi. Foliar treatment of plants with combined growth-regulating preparations led to optimization of water consumption of agrocenosis in general.

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In this paper, we present upper bounds for the multiplicative forgotten topological index of several graph operations such as sum, Cartesian product, corona product, composition, strong product, disjunction and symmetric difference in terms of the F–index and the first Zagreb index of their components. Also, we give explicit formulas for this new graph invariant under two graph operations such as union and Tensor product. Moreover, we obtain the expressions for this new graph invariant of subdivision graphs and vertex – semitotal graphs. Finally, we compare the discriminating ability of indices.

Obesity and insulin resistance (IR) are well-studied risk factors for systemic cardiovascular disease, but their impact on pulmonary hypertension (PH) is not well clarified. This study aims to investigate if diet-induced obesity induces PH and if peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-γ) and/or endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress are involved in this process. Mice were maintained on a high-fat diet (HFD) for 4 months, and IR and PH were confirmed. In a separate group, after 4 months of HFD, mice were treated with pioglitazone (PIO) or 4-phenylbutyric acid for the last month. The results demonstrated that HFD for at least 4 months is able to increase pulmonary artery pressure, which is maintained, and this animal model can be used to investigate the link between IR and PH, without changes in ER stress in the pulmonary artery. There was also a reduction in circulating adiponectin and in perivascular adiponectin expression in the pulmonary artery, associated with a reduction in PPAR-γ expression. Treatment with PIO improved IR and PH and reversed the lower expression of adiponectin and PPAR-γ in the pulmonary artery, highlighting this drug as potential benefit for this poorly recognized complication of obesity.

In this study, for the first time, we report the identification and characterization of culturable fast-growing bacteria isolated from the sea-affected temporary meltwater ponds (MPs) in the East Antarctica area of the Vecherny region (−67.656317, 46.175058) of the Thala Hills Oasis, Enderby Land. Water samples from the studied MPs showed alkaline pH (from 8.0 to 10.1) and highly varied total dissolved solids (86–94,000 mg/L). In total, twenty-nine bacterial isolates were retrieved from the studied MPs. The phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities showed that the isolated bacteria belong to the phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes and the twelve genera Pseudomonas, Shewanella, Acinetobacter, Sporosarcina, Facklamia, Carnobacterium, Arthrobacter, Brachybacterium, Micrococcus, Agrococcus, Leifsonia, and Flavobacterium. Most of the isolated bacteria were psychrotrophs and showed the production of one or more extracellular enzymes. Lipolytic and proteolytic activities were more prevalent among the isolates. Five isolates from the Actinobacteria phylum and one isolate from the Bacteroidetes phylum had strong pigmentation. Antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed that most of the isolates are resistant to at least one antibiotic, and seven isolates showed multi-resistance.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the food matrix (orange juice and yogurt) on the effects of the spore-forming probiotic microorganism Bacillus coagulans GBI-30 6086 in health parameters and gastrointestinal tract (gut) bacterial diversity in Wistar male rats. Rats (n = 48) were randomly distributed into six groups. The groups were the Control (which received sterile distilled water), Juice (which received orange juice), Yogurt (which received yogurt), Probiotic Bacillus (which received B. coagulans GBI-30 6086 in distilled water), Probiotic Juice (which received orange juice with B. coagulans GBI-30 6086), and Probiotic Yogurt (which received yogurt with B. coagulans GBI-30 6086). Each animal belonging to the different groups was treated for 21 days. The daily administration of probiotic juice or probiotic yogurt did not affect the rats’ food or body weight. Rats fed with Probiotic Yogurt showed lower glucose and triglycerides levels (p < 0.05) in comparison to the control group (p < 0.05), while no changes in these parameters were observed in the rats fed with Probiotic Juice. Rats fed with Probiotic Yogurt showed a higher gut bacterial diversity than the control group (p < 0.05), and higher abundance (p < 0.05) of Vibrionales, Enterobacteriales, Burkholderiales, Erysipelotrichales, and Bifidobacteriales compared to all other groups. No changes were observed in the expression levels of antioxidant enzymes or heat shock protein 70 of rats fed with probiotic yogurt or probiotic juice. Results reveal that the consumption of yogurt containing B. coagulans GBI-30 6086 decreases triglycerides and glucose levels and positively impacts the gut bacterial ecology in healthy rats. These animal model findings indicate that the matrix also impacts the functionality of foods carrying spore-forming probiotics. Besides, this research indicates that yogurt is also a suitable food carrier of Bacillus coagulans GBI-30 6086.

Abstract Snow microorganisms play a significant role in climate change and affecting the snow melting rate in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. While research on algae inhabiting green and red snow has been performed extensively, bacteria dwelling in this biotope have been studied to a much lesser extent. In this study, we performed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of two green snow samples collected from the coastal area of the eastern part of Antarctica and conducted genotypic and phenotypic profiling of 45 fast‐growing bacteria isolated from these samples. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of two green snow samples showed that bacteria inhabiting these samples are mostly represented by families Burkholderiaceae (46.31%), Flavobacteriaceae (22.98%), and Pseudomonadaceae (17.66%). Identification of 45 fast‐growing bacteria isolated from green snow was performed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We demonstrated that they belong to the phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, and are represented by the genera Arthrobacter, Cryobacterium, Leifsonia, Salinibacterium, Paeniglutamicibacter, Rhodococcus, Polaromonas, Pseudomonas, and Psychrobacter. Nearly all bacterial isolates exhibited various growth temperatures from 4°C to 25°C, and some isolates were characterized by a high level of enzymatic activity. Phenotyping using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed a possible accumulation of intracellular polymer polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) or lipids in some isolates. The bacteria showed different lipids/PHA and protein profiles. It was shown that lipid/PHA and protein spectral regions are the most discriminative for differentiating the isolates.

This work investigates the effect of a soy-based probiotic drink (Enterococcus faecium CRL 183 and Bifidobacterium longum ATCC 15707) on the fecal microbiota composition, body weight and inflammatory parameters in diet-induced obese mice. The probiotic group had a lower body weight until 9th week of the study, reduced area and diameter of adipocytes, and showed a significant increase of IL-6 and IL-10 compared to the obesite non-treated group. The intake of a high-fat diet results in an increase of Lactobacillus spp. while the probiotic drink positively modulates the intestinal microbiota by maintaining the population of microorganisms belonging to the phylum Bacteroidetes and increases Bifidobacterium spp. Our study finds that the regular intake of this probiotic drink is able to reduce body weight gain and the size of adipocytes while modulating the fecal microbiota and the immune profile of animals, therefore acting in a beneficial manner in the control of obesity.

Urbanization results to a wide spread of Technosols. Various materials are used for Technosols’ construction with a limited attention to their ecosystem services or disservices. The research focuses on the integral assessment of soil-like materials used for Technosols’ construction in Moscow megalopolis from the ecosystem services’ perspective. Four groups of materials (valley peats, sediments, cultural layers, and commercial manufactured soil mixtures) were assessed based on the indicators, which are integral, informative, and cost-effective. Microbial respiration, C-availability, specific respiration, community level physiological profile, and Shannon’ diversity index in the materials were compared to the natural reference to assess and rank the ecosystem services and disservices. The assessment showed that sediments and low-peat mixtures (≤30% of peat in total volume) had a considerably higher capacity to provide C-sequestration, climate regulation and functional diversity services compared to peats and high-peat mixtures. Urban cultural layers provided ecosystem disservices due to pollution by potentially toxic elements and health risks from the pathogenic fungi. Mixtures comprising from the sediments with minor (≤30%) peat addition would have a high potential to increase C-sequestration and to enrich microbial functional diversity. Their implementation in urban landscaping will reduce management costs and increase sustainability of urban soils and ecosystem.

The condition of successivedevelopment, sustainability of the whole is a continuous relation between the present, the past and the future. An interdisciplinary approach aimed to create the holistic picture of the world helps to get an objective assessment of the logic of the environment changing process. The birth of a new Polis of the North Black Sea Region at the end of 18th c. led to the complex of geostrategic economic prerequisites for the development of the southern territories of the Russian Empire.The generation of the founders of the port city of Odessa (J. de Ribas, F. de Volan etc.) was formed in the era of European classicism the cultural context of which “was washed by the Gulf Stream of antiquity”. Noospheric approach was manifested in the ability to create reality by means of techniques mentioned in Vitruvius` theories of beauty. The characteristic featureof the development of Odessa is creating the comfortable environment in harsh, aggressive conditions of the southern steppe zone – “deadly heat in the summer and terrible blizzards in the winter, sandy and alkaline soil, lack of freshwater springs”. Taking into consideration astronomical, climatic and hydrogeological factors, they chose the harbour, the place to create the port city of Odessa, perfectly well. They provided optimal sun exposure and healthy living conditions. F. de Volan`scity planof Odessa is themaster plan of the world`ssocio-natural development. The genetic code of the unique Polis culture was established in 1794, in accordance with the requirements of eurhythmy-harmony -“Strength, Utility and Beauty” by Vitruvius.

Despite the abundance of charcoal material entrapped in soils, they remain relatively less studied pyrogenic archives in comparison to the sedimentary paleofire records (e.g., lacustrine and peat deposits), and that is especially the case in most of Russia’s territory. We report here on the deep soil archives of the Holocene forest fires from the Pinega District of the Arkhangelsk region (64.747° N, 43.387° E). Series of buried soil profiles separated by charcoal layers and clusters were revealed in specific geomorphological traps represented by the active and paleokarst subsidence sinkholes on sulfate rocks overlaid by glacial and fluvial deposits. We combine the study of soil morphology and stratigraphy with a set of radiocarbon data on charcoal and soil organic matter, as well as the anthracomass analysis, to extract a set of paleoenvironmental data. A total of 45 radiocarbon dates were obtained for the macrocharcoal material and the soil organic matter. The maximum temporal “depth” of archives estimated from the radiocarbon dating of macrocharcoal reached 10,260 ± 35 cal yr BP. Soil formation with Podzols established at the inter-pyrogenic stages repeatedly reproduced within the period of ten thousand years, while the dominant tree species was Pinus sp. According to the macrocharcoal data, the intervals between fires have shortened in the last thousand years. Dendrochronological estimates suggest the occurrence of fires in almost every decade of the 20th and early 21st centuries. This is the first study of the millennia-scale soil record of forest fires in this particular region of Russia.

The metabolism of cells contains evidence reflecting the process by which they arose. Here, we have identified the ancient core of autotrophic metabolism encompassing 404 reactions that comprise the reaction network from H2, CO2, and ammonia (NH3) to amino acids, nucleic acid monomers, and the 19 cofactors required for their synthesis. Water is the most common reactant in the autotrophic core, indicating that the core arose in an aqueous environment. Seventy-seven core reactions involve the hydrolysis of high-energy phosphate bonds, furthermore suggesting the presence of a non-enzymatic and highly exergonic chemical reaction capable of continuously synthesizing activated phosphate bonds. CO2 is the most common carbon-containing compound in the core. An abundance of NADH and NADPH-dependent redox reactions in the autotrophic core, the central role of CO2, and the circumstance that the core's main products are far more reduced than CO2 indicate that the core arose in a highly reducing environment. The chemical reactions of the autotrophic core suggest that it arose from H2, inorganic carbon, and NH3 in an aqueous environment marked by highly reducing and continuously far from equilibrium conditions. Such conditions are very similar to those found in serpentinizing hydrothermal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabalho apresenta uma revisão bibliográfica que pretende ser completa (209 trabalhos) sobre Gestão da Produção na indústria calçadista a partir do ano 1980, revisão esta não encontrada até agora na literatura de Gestão da Produção. A partir de tal revisão propôs-se um sistema de classificação baseado em 5 categorias: origem do trabalho; grande área da Engenharia de Produção focada no trabalho; subárea da Engenharia de Produção focada no trabalho; procedimento de pesquisa utilizado; e fonte do trabalho, que serviu para classificar e estruturar os artigos da revisão. Uma vez classificada e estruturada, a revisão bibliográfica sobre Gestão da Produção na indústria calçadista serviu de base para uma ampla análise do tema. Essa análise se baseou em dois pontos fundamentais: i) um estudo quantitativo das grandes áreas da Engenharia de Produção focadas nos trabalhos, assim como da origem, fonte e procedimentos de pesquisa utilizados nos trabalhos; e ii) um estudo qualitativo dos principais assuntos e objetivos alcançados por esses trabalhos. As principais contribuições deste trabalho são: servir de base para um maior conhecimento da literatura atualmente sobre Gestão da Produção na indústria de calçados e propor sugestões de pesquisas futuras na área.This paper presents a literature review that intends to be complete including 209 papers on Production Management on footwear industry since 1980. Such a review has not yet been available on the Production Management literature. This review was organized by means of a classification encompassing 5 dimensions: paper origin, area of Production Engineering focused in the paper, sub area of Production Engineering focused, research procedure used, and the paper source. Once classified and organized, the literature review about Production Management on footwear industry was the base of a broad theme analysis. This analysis was based on two basic points: i) a quantitative study on the areas of Production Engineering focused in the papers such as the origin, source, and research procedure used and ii) a qualitative study on the main subjects and objectives discussed and met in those papers. The main contributions of this paper are being useful to increase the amount of literature available on Production Management in the footwear industry and suggestions for future researches.

The Barents Sea system is often depicted as a simple food web in terms of number of dominant feeding links. The most conspicuous feeding link is between the Northeast Arctic cod Gadus morhua, the world's largest cod stock which is presently at a historical high level, and capelin Mallotus villosus. The system also holds diverse seabird and marine mammal communities. Previous diet studies may suggest that these top predators (cod, bird and sea mammals) compete for food particularly with respect to pelagic fish such as capelin and juvenile herring (Clupea harengus), and krill. In this paper we explored the diet of some Barents Sea top predators (cod, Black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla, Common guillemot Uria aalge, and Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata). We developed a GAM modelling approach to analyse the temporal variation diet composition within and between predators, to explore intra- and inter-specific interactions. The GAM models demonstrated that the seabird diet is temperature dependent while the diet of Minke whale and cod is prey dependent; Minke whale and cod diets depend on the abundance of herring and capelin, respectively. There was significant diet overlap between cod and Minke whale, and between kittiwake and guillemot. In general, the diet overlap between predators increased with changes in herring and krill abundances. The diet overlap models developed in this study may help to identify inter-specific interactions and their dynamics that potentially affect the stocks targeted by fisheries.

Suppression of excessively synchronous beta-band oscillatory activity in the brain is believed to suppress hypokinetic motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Recently, a lot of interest has been devoted to desynchronizing delayed feedback deep brain stimulation (DBS). This type of synchrony control was shown to destabilize the synchronized state in networks of simple model oscillators as well as in networks of coupled model neurons. However, the dynamics of the neural activity in Parkinson's disease exhibits complex intermittent synchronous patterns, far from the idealized synchronous dynamics used to study the delayed feedback stimulation. This study explores the action of delayed feedback stimulation on partially synchronized oscillatory dynamics, similar to what one observes experimentally in parkinsonian patients. We employ a computational model of the basal ganglia networks which reproduces experimentally observed fine temporal structure of the synchronous dynamics. When the parameters of our model are such that the synchrony is unphysiologically strong, the feedback exerts a desynchronizing action. However, when the network is tuned to reproduce the highly variable temporal patterns observed experimentally, the same kind of delayed feedback may actually increase the synchrony. As network parameters are changed from the range which produces complete synchrony to those favoring less synchronous dynamics, desynchronizing delayed feedback may gradually turn into synchronizing stimulation. This suggests that delayed feedback DBS in Parkinson's disease may boost rather than suppress synchronization and is unlikely to be clinically successful. The study also indicates that delayed feedback stimulation may not necessarily exhibit a desynchronization effect when acting on a physiologically realistic partially synchronous dynamics, and provides an example of how to estimate the stimulation effect.

The exact origin of tremor in Parkinson's disease remains unknown. We explain why the existing data converge on the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop as a tremor generator and consider a conductance-based model of subthalamo-pallidal circuits embedded into a simplified representation of the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit to investigate the dynamics of this loop. We show how variation of the strength of dopamine-modulated connections in the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop (representing the decreasing dopamine level in Parkinson's disease) leads to the occurrence of tremor-like burst firing. These tremor-like oscillations are suppressed when the connections are modulated back to represent a higher dopamine level (as it would be the case in dopaminergic therapy), as well as when the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop is broken (as would be the case for ablative anti-parkinsonian surgeries). Thus, the proposed model provides an explanation for the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop mechanism of tremor generation. The strengthening of the loop leads to tremor oscillations, while the weakening or disconnection of the loop suppresses them. The loop origin of parkinsonian tremor also suggests that new tremor-suppression therapies may have anatomical targets in different cortical and subcortical areas as long as they are within the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loop.