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The modification of fatty substrates using heterogeneous catalysts have extensive industrial application and has an emphatic position in a sustainable context. Herein ruthenium, nickel, cobalt and copper-doped ruthenium, supported on hypercrosslinked polystyrene (HPS) catalysts were prepared by wet impregnation, characterized and applied on the modification of canola fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The characterization showed a dispersive effect of doping metals over the ruthenium particles, the presence of acid sites and overall surface morphology, which allows targeting potential applications. The chosen modifications consisted of hydrogenation, hydroformylation, oxidative cleavage and deoxygenation, resulting in superb catalytic activities of over 99% conversions for hydrogenation and deoxygenation. The simplicity of the canola FAME composition allows the understanding of the catalytic processes and allows the upscale of more complex FAME matrixes. Finally, the obtained data stimulates further optimization studies for each application with a variation on the catalysts and the usage of residual fatty substrates, greatly enhancing the sustainability profile of the systems.

In hadron therapy, the accelerated ions, interacting with the body of the patient, cause the fragmentation of both projectile and target nuclei. The fragments interact with the human tissues depositing energy both in the entrance channel and in the volume surrounding the tumor. The knowledge of the fragments features is crucial to determine the energy amount deposited in the human body, and - hence - the damage to the organs and to the tissues around the tumor target.

The synthesis of organometallic compounds with potential pharmacological activity has attracted the attention of many research groups, aiming to take advantage of aspects that the presence of the metal-carbon bond can bring to the design of new pharmaceutical drugs. In this context, we have gathered studies reported in the literature in which psychoactive benzodiazepine drugs were used as ligands in the preparation of organometallic and metal complexes and provide details on some of their biological effects. We also highlight that most commonly known benzodiazepine-based drugs display molecular features that allow the preparation of metallacycles via C-H activation. These organometallic compounds merit further attention regarding their potential biological effects, not only in terms of psychoactive drugs but also in the search for drug replacements, for example, for cancer treatments.

Foram analisados 600 soros de bovinos abatidos nos matadouros sob Inspeção Municipal de Ilhéus e Itabuna, e no matadouro frigorífico sob Inspeção Federal em Jequié, BA, para anticorpos anti-Toxoplasma gondii por imunofluorescência indireta. A prevalência total foi de 11,83% (71), sendo os animais positivos 19,3% (37) no matadouro de Ilhéus, 9,8% em Itabuna (21) e 6,8% (13) em Jequié. Dos animais positivos, 65 (91,5%) tiveram título de 1:64, e 6 (8,5%) de 1:256. A maioria dos soros positivos para T. gondii foram oriundos de animais provenientes de granjas leiteiras e foram abatidos nos matadouros sob inspeção municipal em comparação com aqueles animais que procederam de fazendas com criação extensiva, e abatidos em matadouros sob inspeção federal.Serum samples of 600 slaughtered cattle from Ilhéus and Itabuna Municipal slaughterhouse and Jequié Federal slaughterhouse, all of them located in the State of Bahia were screened using an indirect immunofluorescent antibody test against Toxoplasma gondii. Prevalence was 11.83% (71), and positive samples were distributed as 19.3% (37) from Ilhéus, 9.8% (21) from Itabuna and 6.8% (13) from Jequié slaughterhouses respectively. From positive cattle, 91.5% (65) had titles 1:64, and 8.5% (6) had title 1:256. The majority of serum positive samples against T. gondii were related to animals from dairy farms which were slaughtered at municipality stockyards under municipal inspection in comparison with those slaughtered at Federal inspection which were related to beef cattle that were raised in farms extensively.

The use of biomass as raw-material for obtaining chemicals, polymers and fuels is emerging as a clever alternative solution for the increasing energy demand, environmental awareness and petroleum shortage. In this work, some attempts in order to develop catalytic systems suitable for triglyceride transformation into fuels, polymers and intermediates are reviewed.

Periodically, during petroleum shortages, vegetable oils and their derivatives have been proposed as alternatives to petroleum diesel fuel. Different approaches have been proposed, including the use of pure vegetable oils (or blends) or their derivatives. Indeed, the use of fatty-acid methyl or ethyl esters (usually known as "biodiesel") produced by alcoholysis of triacylglycerides or esterification of fatty acids was initially proposed in Belgium 70 years ago, when the first world patent was deposited. Recently, foreign dependence on diesel fuel and the petroleum crisis have increased the discussion in Brazil on starting to use alternatives to diesel fuel, being biodiesel the alternative of choice for a large petroleum diesel substitution program.

Este trabalho trata da síntese e caracterização de um complexo de Cr(III) contendo o ligante N,N'-di-t-Bu-2,11-diaza [3.3] (2,6)-piridinofano (t-Bu-N4CrCl2+ Cl-) e posterior avaliação catalítica na polimerização de etileno e propileno, sob várias condições de reação, em presença de MAO (metilaluminoxana) ou Et3Al2Cl3 (sesquicloreto de etilalumínio - EASC), como cocatalisadores. O emprego do sistema catalítico t-Bu-N4CrCl2+ Cl-/Et3Al2Cl3 produziu copolímeros de etileno-propileno e de polietilenos, com bons rendimentos. A caracterização desses polímeros, através de várias técnicas analíticas, mostrou que os mesmos são essencialmente lineares e de alta massa molar.

The optimized analytical methodology described herein is based on an ion exchange column and an H3PO4 solution (pH 2.24) as the mobile phase, with a flow rate of 0.4 mL min-1 and refractive index detection (RID). On applying the methodology, it was possible to identify 7 products obtained from the oxidation of glycerol with an analysis time of 27 min. The developed method was validated through the evaluation of a series of analytical parameters. The results obtained were evaluated considering the peak area and peak height. The analytical curves showed a correlation coefficient of ≥ 0.986. The coefficient of variation values obtained were ≤ 3.60% for instrumental precision, ≤ 19.36% for intermediate precision in LOQ (1.25 µg mL-1) and ≤ 17.93% for repeatability in LOQ (1.25 µg mL-1) and different days. The limit of quantification established for all compounds was 1.25 µg mL-1 obtained through the parameters of the analytical curve. The accuracy of the method showed recovery values of 85.6 to 112.3% for real fortified sample at 3 concentration levels. Two different samples of glycerol oxidation products were applied to the validated methodology; one obtained from AuNP/SiO2 as catalyst (conversion of 62.42%), and other using AuNP/MWCNT (conversion of 89.5%).

Emergency situations are generally described as combining both threat and time pressure. Creative solutions to deal with such situations are important. The present studies (Ntotal = 1190) investigated how people are able to produce creative solutions in an emergency. Our first study was correlational, and assessed individual creativity and reactions to emergency situations using self-report questionnaires. It was complemented by three experimental studies. In those, critical features of emergency situations were manipulated (i.e., time pressure and/or threat level) to examine their putative impact on individual performance on creative tasks (Alternate Uses Task and Real Life Problem). Three dependent variables systematically qualified individuals’ creative performance: fluency (i.e., the number of ideas proposed), originality (i.e., the average rarity of the ideas proposed), and originality adjusted for fluency (i.e., the rarity of the most original idea proposed). Taken together, the results observed tend to indicate that increasing emergency (i.e., increasing time constraint or threat importance) produced an average reduction in the originality of the ideas proposed. These results complement previously obtained results about the effect of stressful situations on creativity through the distinction made in this paper between two key components of emergency situations, namely time pressure and threat level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]