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The prevalence of anti-lentiviruses antibodies of small ruminants was investigated in goat herds in the city of Teresina, PI, Brazil. A seroepidemiological survey was conducted involving 480 animals, apparently healthy, belonging to six rural properties. The diagnostic test was the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID), using antigens produced from cellular cultures infected with caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV Cork). Prevalences by gender and age were estimated considering sampling fractions for each farm. A general prevalence of 4.2%, was observerved, being 4.2% for females and 3.6% for males. Prevalences were higher among older goats. Regarding the breed standard, 23.5% were of the Anglo Nubian, 5.9% of the Boer, 35.3% Anglo Nubian x Boer crossbred, and 35.3% of undefined breed. It is concluded that small ruminant lentiviruses are endemic among goat herds of Teresina.

A espinheira-santa (Maytenus muelleri - Celastraceae) é a planta medicinal nativa do Sul do Brasil, cujas folhas são tradicionalmente utilizadas pela medicina popular para o tratamento de úlceras e outros problemas gástricos. Existem poucos trabalhos publicados sobre a produção de mudas e técnicas de propagação vegetativa da espécie. A propagação de espinheira-santa por estaquia poderia ser um método eficiente para obtenção de material homogêneo, com características genéticas desejáveis, produzido a partir de plantas matrizes selecionadas. O presente trabalho teve por objetivo estudar os efeitos da aplicação de ácido indol butírico (AIB), em solução e em pó, no enraizamento de estacas de espinheira-santa coletadas nas quatro estações do ano (abril/2005 a janeiro/2006), bem como averiguar, por meio de análises anatômicas e histoquímicas das estacas, a presença de possíveis impedimentos à iniciação do enraizamento adventício. Estacas provenientes de ramos de plantas matrizes de seis anos cultivadas da Estação Experimental do Canguiri, Pinhais, PR, foram coletadas e tratadas com AIB (0, 1500, 3000 mg L-1 ou mg kg-1), em solução alcoólica (50% v/v) e em talco. Aos 365 dias foram avaliadas as porcentagens de estacas enraizadas e mortas, número e comprimento médio de raízes formadas por estaca. Análises anatômicas e histoquímicas com lugol e cloreto férrico foram realizadas. A estação mais promissora para o enraizamento foi o verão/2006 com 62,50% para o tratamento controle, devido à menor lignficação dos ramos no período de intenso crescimento vegetativo. O número médio de raízes formadas por estaca foi de 6,94 (solução) e o comprimento médio de raízes formadas/estaca chegou a 4,82 cm nesta mesma estação. As concentrações de AIB aplicadas não foram eficientes na indução radicial, independentemente do modo de aplicação. Foi detectada a presença de uma camada quase contínua de fibras e braquiesclereídes, a qual constitui barreira anatômica à indução radicial. Os testes histoquímicos revelaram a presença de amido e de compostos fenólicos nas estacas, em todas as estações do ano. A dificuldade ou demora no enraizamento não pode ser justificada pela falta de reservas de amido nos tecidos das estacas, mas pode ser justificada pela presença de compostos fenólicos, possivelmente do grupo dos monofenóis, que causam a degradação do AIA, interferindo negativamente na indução do enraizamento."Espinheira-santa" (Maytenus muelleri - Celastraceae) is a medicinal plant native to Southern Brazil, the leaves of which are traditionally used in popular medicine for the treatment of stomach ulcers and other gastric problems. There are few published studies about seedling production and vegetative propagation techniques for this species. The propagation of "espinheira-santa" by cuttings could be an efficient method to obtain homogeneous material, with desirable genetic characteristics, produced from selected mother plants. This paper aimed to study the effects of indolebutyric acid (IBA) application, in solution and in powder, on the rooting of "espinheira-santa" cuttings, collected in four seasons (April/2005 to January/2006), as well as to investigate, by means of cutting anatomical and histochemical analyses, the presence of possible impediments to adventitious rooting initiation. Cuttings from branches of six-year mother plants grown at "Estação Experimental do Canguiri", Pinhais, Paraná State, Brazil, were collected and treated with IBA (0, 1500, 3000 mg L-1 or mg kg-1) in alcoholic solution (50% v/v) and in powder. After 365 days, the percentages of rooted and dead cuttings, the number and mean length of roots/cutting were evaluated. Anatomical and histochemical analyses were performed with lugol and ferric chloride. The most promising season for rooting was Summer/2006, with 62.50% of rooting for the control treatment, due to the lesser lignification degree of branches in intense vegetative growth period. The mean number of roots/cutting was 6.94 (solution) and the mean length of roots/cutting was 4.82 cm in that same season. The applied IBA concentrations were not efficient in inducing root growth, regardless of the application method. An almost continuous layer of fibers and stone cells was detected, constituting an anatomical barrier for rooting induction. The histochemical tests revealed the presence of starch and phenolic compounds in cuttings, in all seasons. The difficulty or delay in rooting cannot be justified by the absence of starch reserve in the cutting tissues but by the presence of phenolic compounds, possibly of the group of monophenols, which cause IAA degradation, negatively affecting rooting induction.

In order to achieve adventitious shoot regeneration from young tissues of Racosperma mangium, several combinations of growth regulators were tested. Kinetin (KIN) and a -naphthalenacetic acid (NAA), thidiazuron (TDZ) and NAA or indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), 4-CPPU and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) were added to basic medium composed of MS salts, MS vitamins and 3% sucrose. Sections of hypocotyls and cotyledons of young seedlings were cultivated on these media. Calli developed on different media and, after two to three months, some of them regenerated organized structures. Histological studies revealed hypertrophy and hyperplasy of medular and cortical parenchyma cells of hypocotyl and cotyledon parenchyma. Formation of meristematic cells and traqueary elements from parenchyma was observed during in vitro culture. In some cases, nodules of traqueary elements were formed. The highest differentiation into meristematic cells was found in cotyledon tissues cultured on 4-CPPU (8.07 µM) and 2,4-D (1.13 µM).Várias combinações de reguladores do crescimento foram aplicadas a tecidos jovens de Racosperma mangium com o propósito de induzir a regeneração de brotos adventícios. Cinetina (KIN) e ácido naftalenoacético (NAA), tidiazuron (TDZ) e NAA, N-(chloro-4-piridil)-N´-fenilurea (4-CPPU) e ácido 2,4-diclorofenoxiacético (2,4-D) foram adicionados a um meio de base composto por sais minerais, na metade da concentração do meio MS, vitaminas MS e sacarose 2%. Explantes de hipocótilos e cotilédones de plântulas semeadas in vitro foram cultivados nesses meios. A formação de calos foi observada em vários meios. Estruturas organizadas se desenvolveram na presença de diferentes combinações de KIN ou TDZ e NAA quando os calos permaneceram dois a três meses nos mesmos meios. Estudos histológicos mostraram a hypertrofia e hiperplasia das células do parênquima medular e cortical, nos calos formados a partir de hipocótilos como de cotilédones. A formação de células meristemáticas e de elementos traqueais foi observada durante a cultura in vitro. Em certos caso, nódulos de elementos traqueais apareceram. A maior diferenciação de células meristemáticas foi encontrada nos tecidos de cotilédones cultivados na presença de 8,07 µM de 4-CPPU e 1,13 µM de 2,4-D.

In 2000 there was an oil spill at the Getúlio Vargas Refinery (REPAR) in Paraná. Nearly five years after contamination and the use of bioremediation, a study was carried out to identify the effects of the contaminated soil and the bioremediated soil on the germination and initial growth of C. xanthocarpa. The experiment was established with soil from REPAR, with three treatment groups: contaminated soil (C), bioremediated soil (B) and uncontaminated soil (U); with five repetitions of 50 seeds each. There was no significant difference in the percentage of germination and the speed of germination index. The production of total biomass (30 - 60 days) and shoot biomass (60 days) was greater in the bioremediated soil compared to the other treatments. The averages for the root biomass were lower in the contaminated soil than in the bioremediated soil. The shoot length and the total length of the seedling in the contaminated soil and uncontaminated soil were lower than in the bioremediated soil.

The Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes (CVZA) extends from southern Peru, through the Altiplano of Bolivia, to the Puna of northern Chile and Argentina, between latitudes 14–28° S of the Andean cordillera, with altitudes rising up to more than 4000 m above sea level. Given the large number of active volcanoes in this area, which are often located close to both urban areas and critical infrastructure, prioritization of volcanic risk reduction strategies is crucial. The identification of hazardous active volcanoes is challenging due to the limited accessibility, the scarce historical record, and the difficulty in identifying relative or absolute ages due to the extreme arid climate. Here, we identify the highest-risk volcanoes combining complementary strategies: (i) a regional mapping based on volcanic hazard parameters and surrounding density of elements at risk and (ii) the application of the recently developed volcanic risk ranking (VRR) methodology that integrates hazard, exposure, and vulnerability as factors that increase risk and resilience as a factor that reduces risk. We identified 59 active and potentially active volcanoes that not only include the volcanic centres with the most intense and frequent volcanic eruptions (e.g. the El Misti and Ubinas volcanoes, Peru) but also the highest density of exposed elements (e.g. the cities of Arequipa and Moquegua, Peru). VRR was carried out for 19 out of the 59 volcanoes, active within the last 1000 years or with unrest signs, highlighting those with the highest potential impact (i.e. Cerro Blanco in Argentina and Yucamane, Huaynaputina, Tutupaca, and Ticsani in Peru) and requiring risk mitigation actions to improve the capacity to face or overcome a disaster (e.g. volcanic hazard and risk/impact assessments, monitoring systems, educational activities, and implementation of early warning systems).

Abstract The oral and gastrointestinal mucosae represent the main targets of the toxic effect of chemo and/or radiotherapy administered during the conditioning regimen before hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). These harmful consequences and the immunological complications that may occur after the transplant (such as Graft versus Host Disease, GvHD) are responsible for the clinical symptoms associated with mucositis during the aplasia phase, like pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. These toxicities could play a critical role in the oral and gastrointestinal microbiomes during the post-transplant phase, and the degree of microbial dysbiosis and dysregulation among different bacterial species could also be crucial in intestinal mucosa homeostasis, altering the host’s innate and adaptive immune responses and favoring abnormal immune responses responsible for the occurrence of GvHD. This prospective pediatric study aims to analyze longitudinally oral and gut microbiomes in 17 pediatric patients who received allogeneic HSCT for malignant and non-malignant diseases. The oral mucositis was mainly associated with an increased relative abundance of Fusobacteria, and Prevotella species, while Streptococcus descendants showed a negative correlation. The fecal microbiome of subjects affected by cutaneous acute GvHD (aGvHD) correlated with Proteobacteria. Oral mucosal microbiota undergoes changes after HSCT, Fusobacteria, and Prevotella represent bacterial species associated with mucositis and they could be the target for future therapeutic approaches, while fecal microbiome in patients with acute GvHD (aGvHD) revealed an increase of different class of Proteobacteria (Alphaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria) and a negative correlation with the class of Gammaproteobacteria.

Intro: To optimise surgical outcomes and minimise the risk of infections, effective communication and teamwork are essential in the operating theatre (OT). In this pilot study, we mapped the OT team dynamics and roles in infection and safety-related practices. Methods: Between November 2021 and February 2022, data were gathered from adult surgical teams at a tertiary hospital in India. Data included direct ethnographic observations of OT activities and interactions, sociograms of targeted infection and safety-related communication, measurement of OT traffic, and focus group discussions with teams. Qualitative data were coded and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings: Data gathered from 51 hours of direct observations across ten surgical pathways include 16 sociograms and 15 traffic-flow maps. Team hierarchies and dynamics are directly influenced by the senior surgeon. The OT staff adhere to implicitly understood roles, creating a missed opportunity for infection-related interventions. Instances of non-verbal communication are common, especially for routine activities. While the surgical and anaesthetic residents and technicians lead most tasks during procedures, the scrub nurse acts as a mediator coordinating and activating tasks among role players across hierarchies. Despite this role, the plan of events is not always communicated to them ahead of the procedure resulting in multiple door openings to source equipment and disposables. Traffic flow, counted by the number of door openings reach up to 14-15 per five minutes, with implications for infection management. Communication around the WHO checklist was limited. Conclusion: While interventions exist to optimise care in the OT, implementation challenges remain. Assigning explicit roles and responsibilities for actioning, including the WHO checklist completion, to specific team members is critical. On reflexive feedback to teams, the visual methods utilised provided an effective means for team reflection and an awareness of practices that may compromise infection management and patient safety.

Evacuation planning and management represent a key aspect of volcanic crises because they can increase people's protection as well as minimize potential impacts on the economy, properties and infrastructure of the affected area. We present an agent-based simulation tool that assesses the effectiveness of different evacuation scenarios using the small island of Vulcano (southern Italy) as a case study. Simulation results show that the overall time needed to evacuate people should be analysed together with the percentage of people evacuated as a function of time and that a simultaneous evacuation on Vulcano is more efficient than a staged evacuation. For example, during the touristic (high) season between July and August, even though the overall duration is similar for both evacuation strategies, after ∼ 6 h about 96 % of people would be evacuated with a simultaneous evacuation, while only 86 % would be evacuated with a staged evacuation. We also present a model to assess the economic impact of evacuation as a function of evacuation duration and of the starting period with respect to the touristic season. It reveals that if an evacuation lasting 3 to 6 months was initiated at the beginning or at the end of the touristic season (i.e. June or November), it would cause a very different economic impact on the tourism industry (about 78 %–88 % and 2 %–7 % of the total annual turnover, respectively). Our results show how the assessment of evacuation scenarios that consider human and economic impact carried out in a pre-disaster context helps authorities develop evacuation plans and make informed decisions outside the highly stressful time period that characterizes crises.

We have developed an aggregation scheme for use with the Lagrangian atmospheric transport and dispersion model NAME (Numerical Atmospheric Dispersion modelling Environment), which is used by the London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) to provide advice and guidance on the location of volcanic ash clouds to the aviation industry. The aggregation scheme uses the fixed pivot technique to solve the Smoluchowski coagulation equations to simulate aggregation processes in an eruption column. This represents the first attempt at modelling explicitly the change in the grain size distribution (GSD) of the ash due to aggregation in a model which is used for operational response. To understand the sensitivity of the output aggregated GSD to the model parameters, we conducted a simple parametric study and scaling analysis. We find that the modelled aggregated GSD is sensitive to the density distribution and grain size distribution assigned to the non-aggregated particles at the source. Our ability to accurately forecast the long-range transport of volcanic ash clouds is, therefore, still limited by real-time information on the physical characteristics of the ash. We assess the impact of using the aggregated GSD on model simulations of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud and consider the implications for operational forecasting. Using the time-evolving aggregated GSD at the top of the eruption column to initialize dispersion model simulations had little impact on the modelled extent and mass loadings in the distal ash cloud. Our aggregation scheme does not account for the density of the aggregates; however, if we assume that the aggregates have the same density of single grains of equivalent size, the modelled area of the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud with high concentrations of ash, significant for aviation, is reduced by ∼ 2 %, 24 h after the start of the release. If we assume that the aggregates have a lower density (500 kg m−3) than the single grains of which they are composed and make up 75 % of the mass in the ash cloud, the extent is 1.1 times larger.

Abstract Characterizing the size and settling velocity of pyroclastic fragments injected into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions (i.e., tephra) is crucial to the forecasting of plume and cloud dispersal. Optical disdrometers have been integrated into volcano monitoring networks worldwide in order to best constrain these parameters in real time. Nonetheless, their accuracy during tephra fallout still needs to be assessed. A significant complication is the occurrence of particle aggregates that modify size and velocity distributions of falling tephra. We made the first use of the Thies Clima Laser Precipitation Monitor (LPM) for tephra-fallout detection at Sakurajima volcano (Japan), which is characterized by a lower size detection window with respect to more commonly used disdrometers (e.g., Parsivel2) and can more easily distinguish different falling objects. For the first time, individual particles have been distinguished from most aggregates based on disdrometer data, with the potential to provide useful grain-size information in real time. In case of negligible aggregation, LPM and collected sample-based estimates are in agreement for both grain-size and sedimentation rate. In case of significant aggregation, particle shape analyses and a dedicated drag equation are used to filter out aggregates from LPM data that also provide good agreement with collected tephra samples.

Abstract Aggregation of volcanic ash is known to significantly impact sedimentation from volcanic plumes. The study of particle aggregates during tephra fallout is crucial to increase our understanding of both ash aggregation and sedimentation. In this work, we describe key features of ash aggregates and ash sedimentation associated with eleven Vulcanian explosions at Sakurajima Volcano (Japan) based on state-of-the-art sampling techniques. We identified five types of aggregates of both Particle Cluster (PC) and Accretionary Pellet (AP) categories. In particular, we found that PCs and the first and third type of APs can coexist within the same eruption in rainy conditions. We also found that the aerodynamic properties of aggregates (e.g., terminal velocity and density) depend on their type. In addition, grainsize analysis revealed that characteristics of the grainsize distributions (GSDs) of tephra samples correlate with the typology of the aggregates identified. In fact, bimodal GSDs correlate with the presence of cored clusters (PC3) and liquid pellets (AP3), while unimodal GSDs correlate either with the occurrence of ash clusters (PC1) or with the large particles (coarse ash) coated by fine ash (PC2).

Abstract Accurate forecasting of volcanic particle (tephra) dispersal and fallout requires a reliable estimation of key Eruption Source Parameters (ESPs) such as the Mass Eruption Rate (QM). QM is usually estimated from the Top Plume Height (HTP) using empirical and analytical models. For the first time, we combine estimates of HTP and QM derived from the same sensor (radar) with mean wind velocity values (vW) for lava‐fountain fed tephra plumes associated with 32 paroxysms of Mt. Etna (Italy) to develop a new statistical model based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach for model parameter estimation. This model is especially designed for application to radar data to quickly infer QM from observed HTP and vW, and estimate the associated uncertainty. It can be easily applied and adjusted to data retrieved by radars worldwide, improving our capacity to quickly estimate QM and related uncertainties required for the tephra dispersal hazard.

Not available.

In submerged sandy slopes, soil is frequently eroded as a combination of two main mechanisms: breaching, which refers to the retrogressive failure of a steep slope forming a turbidity current, and instantaneous sliding wedges, known as shear failure, that also contribute to shape the morphology of the soil deposit. Although there are several modes of failures, in this paper we investigate breaching and shear failures of granular columns using the two-fluid approach. The numerical model is first applied to simulate small-scale granular column collapses (Rondon et al., Phys. Fluids, vol. 23, 2011, 073301) with different initial volume fractions to study the role of the initial conditions in the main flow dynamics. For loosely packed granular columns, the porous medium initially contracts and the resulting positive pore pressure leads to a rapid collapse. Whereas in initially dense-packing columns, the porous medium dilates and negative pore pressure is generated stabilizing the granular column, which results in a slow collapse. The proposed numerical approach shows good agreement with the experimental data in terms of morphology and excess of pore pressure. Numerical results are extended to a large-scale application (Weij, doctoral dissertation, 2020, Delft University of Technology; Alhaddad et al., J. Mar. Sci. Eng., vol. 11, 2023, 560) known as the breaching process. This phenomenon may occur naturally at coasts or on dykes and levees in rivers but it can also be triggered by humans during dredging operations. The results indicate that the two-phase flow model correctly predicts the dilative behaviour and the subsequent turbidity currents associated with the breaching process.

Aggregation of particles occurs in a large variety of settings and is therefore the focus of many disciplines, e.g., Earth and environmental sciences, astronomy, meteorology, pharmacy, and the food industry. In particular, in volcanology, ash aggregation deeply influences the sedimentation of volcanic particles in the atmosphere during and after a volcanic eruption, affecting the accuracy of model predictions and the evaluation of hazard and risk assessments. It is thus very important to provide an exhaustive description of the outcome of an aggregation process, starting from its basic geometrical features such as the position in space of its components and the overall porosity of the final object. Here we present SCARLET-1.0, a MATLAB package specifically created to provide a 3D virtual reconstruction for volcanic ash aggregates generated in central collision processes. In centrally oriented collisions, aggregates build up their own structure around the first particle (the core), acting as a seed. This is appropriate for aggregates generated in turbulent flows in which particles show different degrees of coupling with respect to the turbulent eddies. SCARLET-1.0 belongs to the class of sphere-composite algorithms, a family of algorithms that approximate 3D complex shapes in terms of a set of sphere-composite nonoverlapping spheres. The conversion of a 3D surface to its equivalent sphere-composite structure then allows for an analytical detection of the intersections between different objects that aggregate together. Thus, provided a list of colliding sizes and shapes, SCARLET-1.0 places each element in the vector around the core, minimizing the distances between their centers of mass. The user can play with different parameters that control the minimization process. Among them the most important ones are the cone of investigation (Ω), the number of rays per cone (Nr), and the number of orientations of the object (No). All the 3D shapes are described using the Standard Triangulation Language (STL) format, which is the current standard for 3D printing. This is one of the key features of SCARLET-1.0, which results in an unlimited range of applications of the package. The main outcome of the code is the virtual representation of the object, its size, porosity, density, and the associated STL file. In addition, the object can be potentially 3D printed. As an example, SCARLET-1.0 has been applied here to the investigation of ellipsoid–ellipsoid collisions and to a more specific analysis of volcanic ash aggregation. In the first application we show that the final porosity of two colliding ellipsoids is less than 20 % if flatness and elongation are greater than or equal to 0.5. Higher values of porosities (up to 40 %–50 %) can instead be found for ellipsoids with needle-like or extremely flat shapes. In the second application, we reconstruct the evolution in time of the porosity of two different aggregates characterized by different inner structures. We find that aggregates whose population of particles is characterized by a narrow distribution of sizes tend to rapidly reach a plateau in the porosity. In addition, to reproduce the observed densities, almost no compaction is necessary in SCARLET-1.0, which is a result that suggests how ash aggregates are not well described in terms of the maximum packing condition.

Summary: Background: We have addressed health equity attained by fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) and primary colonoscopy (PCOL), respectively, in the randomised controlled screening trial SCREESCO conducted in Sweden. Methods: We analysed data on the individuals recruited between March 2014, and March 2020, within the study registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02078804. Swedish population registry data on educational level, household income, country of birth, and marital status were linked to each 60-year-old man and woman who had been randomised to two rounds of FIT 2 years apart (n = 60,123) or once-only PCOL (n = 30,390). Furthermore, we geo-coded each study individual to his/her residential area and assessed neighbourhood-level data on deprivation, proportion of non-Western immigrants, population density, and average distance to healthcare center for colonoscopy. We estimated adjusted associations of each covariate with the colonoscopy attendance proportion out of all invited to respective arms; ie, the preferred outcome for addressing health equity. In the FIT arm, the test uptake and the colonoscopy uptake among the test positives were considered as the secondary outcomes. Findings: We found a marked socioeconomic gradient in the colonoscopy attendance proportion in the PCOL arm (adjusted odds ratio [95% credibility interval] between the groups categorised in the highest vs. lowest national quartile for household income: 2·20 [2·01–2·42]) in parallel with the gradient in the test uptake of the FIT × 2 screening (2·08 [1·96–2·20]). The corresponding gradient in the colonoscopy attendance proportion out of all invited to FIT was less pronounced (1·29 [1·16–1·42]), due to higher proportions of FIT positives in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. Interpretation: The unintended risk of exacerbating inequalities in health by organised colorectal cancer screening may be higher with a PCOL strategy than a FIT strategy, despite parallel socioeconomic gradients in uptake. Funding: This work was supported by the Swedish Cancer Society under Grant 20 0719. CB and US provided economic support from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working life, and Welfare under Grant 2020–00962.