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Given the increase in environmental pollution, especially of water, the emergence of studies that seek to develop strategies to mitigate/treat such effects have gained prominence in the world scientific community. Among the numerous adsorption processes, those made from biochar production stand out. This study analyzed the adsorption properties of the blue methylene model dye in the aqueous solution of biochar and activated biochar developed from pequi (Caryocar brasiliense) endocarp. The biochar was characterized, before and after adsorption, by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The surface load of the materials was performed by the point of zero charge (pHPZC) method. The study also included analyses of contact time parameters and adsorbed concentration in the adsorption process. Morphological analysis showed that a more significant and profound number of fissures and pores appeared in the activated biochar compared to the biochar. Residual mass analysis evidenced that biochar lost about 15% more mass than the activated biochar, indicating that activation occurred satisfactorily. The adsorption process was well adjusted by pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir’s isothermal model. The activated biochar achieved an excellent adsorption capacity of 476.19 mg.g−1, thus demonstrating to be a sound system for removing dyes from an aqueous medium.

Given the increase in environmental pollution, especially of water, the emergence of studies that seek to develop strategies to mitigate/treat such effects have gained prominence in the world scientific community. Among the numerous adsorption processes, those made from biochar production stand out. This study analyzed the adsorption properties of the blue methylene model dye in the aqueous solution of biochar and activated biochar developed from pequi (

Fluorescence spectra and lifetimes were determined for 16 synthetic flavylium cation analogues of anthocyanin plant pigments in dry acetonitrile acidified with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Phosphorescence was also observed from the lowest excited triplet state for all of the flavylium cations at 77 K in a rigid TFA-acidified isopropanol glass. The fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes depend in a systematic manner on the nature and position of the substituents on the flavylium chromophore and three specific substitution patterns associated with significant decreases in the fluorescence quantum yield were identified. A 4′-bromo or 4′-iodo substituent in the B-ring of the flavylium cation produced a small but normal heavy-atom effect, reducing the fluorescence quantum yield and the phosphorescence lifetime relative to analogues without the halogen atom. In contrast, three flavylium cations with a 3′-bromo substituent exhibited an “inverse” heavy atom effect, i.e., an increase in the fluorescence quantum yield rather than a decrease, which was rationalized on the basis of the nodal properties of the natural transition orbitals (NTOs) involved in the S0→S1 radiative transition.

Chrysomya megacephala (Fab. 1794) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a very important species for forensic entomology, mainly contributing estimations of the postmortem interval (PMI) in judicial investigations. There are some doubts about the nocturnal oviposition of these flies, which could lead to errors in the PMI calculation. This study aimed to monitor the nocturnal oviposition behavior of this species through four experimental conditions carried out in laboratory. Ten cages, each containing five males and females (n = 100), were kept in a fume hood and subjected to total darkness or to artificial light for 11 consecutive hours. Two verifications were performed to determine whether the females deposited eggs on the substrate of ~20 g of chicken gizzards per cage. The first verification occurred at 9:00 pm in nocturnal experiments and at 09:00 am in diurnal experiments. The second verification occurred at 05:00 am in nocturnal experiments and at 05:00 pm in diurnal experiments. Each experiment lasted 5 d. Chrysomya megacephala deposited eggs at night under artificial light and in total darkness, but the amount of eggs was significantly lower when compared with the daytime experiments in dark conditions and under natural light. Oviposition occurred when the average temperature was around 25°C (± 2°C) and relative humidity around 73% (± 6%). Night oviposition is a possibility which should not be ruled out. Thus, future experiments are recommended.

Water pollution has generated the need to develop technologies to remove industrial pollutants. Adsorption has been recognized as one of the most effective techniques for effluent remediation. In this study, parts (stem and leaves) of a problematic aquatic weed, the water hyacinth (

Forensic Entomology uses arthropods to aid in legal investigations. This study checked the biological response of Chrysomya putoria pupae to submersion in fresh water for up to 6 d, evaluating the critical submersion time, survival rate, and development time of the flies. Adults were collected using fish baits in two typical traps. Seven hundred and twenty fourth-generation pupae with 2 d of development were used and separated into submergence intervals: 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, and 144 h. An additional 120 pupae were used as a control. Each treatment was done in triplicate, consisting of 40 pupae distributed in four tulle-sealed test tubes containing 10 pupae each. All tubes of each treatment were co-adhered in test tube racks and were submerged in mineral water in a container with constant oxygenation, except those of the control group, which were not submerged. The tubes were removed from the water according to their respective submersion interval, until 144 h was completed. The control group had a survival rate of 90%, while the 24-h treatment had 85% and the 48-h treatment had 35.8%. The critical submersion time for pupae was 72 h, with 100% mortality by 144 h. The average development time for the control group was 3.2 d, while the 24- and 48-h treatments developed in 4.3 and 6.3 d, respectively. The longer the individuals were submerged, the lower the survival rate was, while the development time increased. The data obtained in this study have potential in applications to estimate the interval of submersion of a cadaver.

This is the first study in Brazil that monitored the nocturnal oviposition behavior of Chrysomya putoria, a species of forensic importance, in order to verify if individuals of this species oviposit at night. Groups of 10 flies (5 male and 5 female) distributed in ten cages were kept in a fume hood and submitted to total darkness or exposed to artificial light for eleven consecutive hours through four experimental conditions in the laboratory. Two verifications were made to see if the females oviposited in the offered substrate of about 20 g of chicken gizzard per cage. Verification 1 occurred at 09:00 pm in the evening experiments and at 09:00 am in the daytime experiments. Verification 2 occurred at 05:00 am in the night experiments and at 05:00 pm in the daytime experiments. Each experiment lasted 5 d. C. putoria laid eggs at night (with or without light) and the quantity of eggs was significantly similar to those produced during the day under natural light or in total darkness. Only the amount of eggs produced during the day in the absence of light was considerably greater than in the typical daytime period. The females oviposited in greater quantity in the nights when the average temperature was between 23 and 24.8°C and relative humidity above 81%. Ovipositions only occurred at temperatures above 21°C and humidity above 56% during the day. Finally, it is necessary that more evaluations on the effect of variables on blowfly behavior are performed to better understand nocturnal oviposition.

Malarial protozoa commonly infect both wild and captive lizards but the effects on the general health of these animals are not fully understood. We describe four clinical cases of Plasmodium infection in captive black and white tegus (Salvator merianae). The animals presented with lethargy, anorexia, dehydration and stomatitis. Plasmodium infection was identified in blood smears from all animals. Treatment with a sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim combination resolved the infection and clinical improvement was observed within 21 days. This is the first report of successful treatment of clinical plasmodiid infection in captive tegus.

Summary Background The sepsis burden on acute care services in middle-income countries is a cause for concern. We estimated incidence, prevalence, and mortality of sepsis in adult Brazilian intensive care units (ICUs) and association of ICU organisational factors with outcome. Methods We did a 1-day point prevalence study with follow-up of patients in ICU with sepsis in a nationally representative pseudo-random sample. We produced a sampling frame initially stratified by geographical region. Each stratum was then stratified by hospitals' main source of income (serving general public vs privately insured individuals) and ICU size (ten or fewer beds vs more than ten beds), finally generating 40 strata. In each stratum we selected a random sample of ICUs so as to enrol the total required beds in 1690 Brazilian adult ICUs. We followed up patients until hospital discharge censored at 60 days, estimated incidence from prevalence and length of stay, and generated national estimates. We assessed mortality prognostic factors using random-effects logistic regression models. Findings On Feb 27, 2014, 227 (72%) of 317 ICUs that were randomly selected provided data on 2632 patients, of whom 794 had sepsis (30·2 septic patients per 100 ICU beds, 95% CI 28·4–31·9). The ICU sepsis incidence was 36·3 per 1000 patient-days (95% CI 29·8–44·0) and mortality was observed in 439 (55·7%) of 788 patients (95% CI 52·2–59·2). Low availability of resources (odds ratio [OR] 1·67, 95% CI 1·02–2·75, p=0·045) and adequacy of treatment (OR 0·56, 0·37–0·84, p=0·006) were independently associated with mortality. The projected incidence rate is 290 per 100 000 population (95% CI 237·9–351·2) of adult cases of ICU-treated sepsis per year, which yields about 420 000 cases annually, of whom 230 000 die in hospital. Interpretation The incidence, prevalence, and mortality of ICU-treated sepsis is high in Brazil. Outcome varies considerably, and is associated with access to adequate resources and treatment. Our results show the burden of sepsis in resource-limited settings, highlighting the need to establish programmes aiming for sepsis prevention, early diagnosis, and adequate treatment. Funding Fundacao de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP).

Pyrethroids are three membered ring compounds similar to the natural pyrethrins produced by the flowers of Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium and C. coccineum . Pyrethroids are insecticides and may also have insect repellent properties and are generally harmless to humans. Due to our interest in compounds with insecticidal activity, we have synthesized seven epoxides ( 2a-g ), which are structurally similar to pyrethroids. The epoxides were prepared by stereospecific and regioselective epoxidation of seven dienamides ( 1a-g ) with meta -chloroperbenzoic acid. The energies for two attainable epoxides ( 2g and 2g′ ) at their respective equilibrium geometries were calculated, and we have shown that the title epoxide ( 2g ) is more stable than the candidate epoxide ( 2g′ ) ( trans ) N -hexyl-3-(( E )-prop-1-en-1-yl)oxirane-2-carboxamide by 13.37 kJ mol −1 . Experimental and calculated nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts were compared for both candidate epoxides ( 2g and 2g′ ), and a better match was achieved for the title compound ( 2g ). The complementarity of Raman and infrared (IR) spectroscopies is a feature that can be explored for the characterization of this class of compound. This is shown by the bands around 3092 cm −1 in the Raman and absent in the IR spectra. On the other hand a strong peak at 1625 cm −1 in the IR is tiny in the Raman. Therefore the title compound was completely identified by NMR, IR, and Raman spectroscopies, and this protocol can be extended to the herein prepared epoxide analogues.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-02T12:39:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-12-01Bitstream added on 2015-02-02T13:08:34Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 S1415-43662014001200008.pdf: 290988 bytes, checksum: d22ffb600869b0dc169cdf2b9a294024 (MD5) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Objetivou-se, com este trabalho, avaliar a influência da salinidade no crescimento de espécies de leguminosas comumente utilizadas como adubação verde. Conduziu-se um experimento em ambiente protegido, no ano de 2010, em blocos ao acaso, no esquema fatorial 5 x 2. Os tratamentos foram cinco níveis de sais (0,8, 1,6, 2,4, 3,2 e 4,0 dS m-1 a 25 ºC) e duas leguminosas: Crotalaria juncea e Crotalaria spectabilis. A água de irrigação foi preparada com a adição de NaCl e as irrigações foram feitas manualmente, em dias alternados, com base no consumo de água das plantas na irrigação anterior. Avaliaram-se os componentes morfofisiológicos - altura de plantas, diâmetro do caule e número de folhas. Plantas de Crotalaria juncea não foram afetadas pelos níveis de sais utilizados neste trabalho. Observou-se efeito depreciativo dos níveis de sais aos 40 dias, para altura de plantas, diâmetro do caule e número de folhas da Crotalaria spectabilis, com resposta linear para altura de planta e quadrática para diâmetro do caule e número de folhas. This study had the objective to evaluate the influence of salinity on the growth of legumenous species commonly used as green manure. An experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in the year of 2010 set up in 5 x 2 factorial in randomized blocks. Treatments were composed of five levels of salt (0.8, 1.6, 2, 4, 3.2 and 4.0 dS m-1 at 25 ºC) in irrigation water and two legumenous species: Crotalaria juncea and Crotalaria spectabilis. Sodium chloride was added in the irrigation water and plants were irrigated manually on alternate days, based on water consumption of the previous day. The morpho-physiological parameters - plant height, stem diameter and number of leaves, were evaluated. Absolute growth rates and relative growth rates were adjusted to the regression models. Plants of Crotalaria juncea were not affected with salt levels used in this study. Depressive effect of salt levels was observed at 40 days for plant height, stem diameter and number of leaves of Crotalaria spectabilis, with linear response for plant height and quadratic for stem diameter and number of leaves. USP ESALQ UFAL UNESP UNESP

The interface between synthetic organic chemistry and natural products was explored in order to unravel the structure of coibacin A, a metabolite isolated from the marine cyanobacterium cf. Oscillatoria sp. that exhibits selective antileishmanial activity and potent anti-inflammatory properties. Our synthetic plan focused on a convergent strategy that allows rapid access to the desired target by coupling of three key fragments involving E-selective Wittig and modified Julia olefinations. CD measurements and comparative HPLC analyses of the natural product and four synthetic stereoisomers led to determination of its absolute configuration, thus correcting the original assignment at C-5 and unambiguously establishing those at C-16 and C-18. Additionally, we synthesized coibacin B on the basis of the assignment of configuration for coibacin A.

This work investigates the feasibility of ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization ( i.e. ⩽1 ppm of sulfur content) of several diesel feedstocks, viz., regular (R), premium (P) and hydrotreated straight-run (HSR) at low pressures, i.e. 10 bar, to lower significantly the operation costs. The premium and regular diesel contain additive packages with several components such as cetane boosters, antioxidants that show to negatively affect the sulfur conversion at low pressures. In the hydrotreated straight-run diesel fuel, which does not contain an additive package, total desulfurization can be obtained at 10 bar, T = 340 °C and LHSV = 1 h −1 . As a model for the additive package, FAME (fatty acid methyl ester), an ingredient that encounters the demands of a sustainable future, was added to the hydrotreated straight-run diesel (HSR + FAME) in order to check its influence on the total sulfur conversion. Results show that this biofuel component hindered tremendously the sulfur removal process by lowering the sulfur removal from 98% to zero at 10 bar, probably by competitive adsorption. At higher pressures, e.g. 30 bar, when FAME was present, new sulfur compounds were formed during the HDS process and the effective sulfur removal was very low.

Com a escassez hídrica na região semiárida o uso de água com qualidade inferior surge como fonte hídrica alternativa para a agricultura irrigada nessas regiões. Neste sentido, objetivou-se com este trabalho avaliar os efeitos do estresse salino sobre o crescimento e desenvolvimento de mudas de alface cultivar saia véia. O experimento foi conduzido no Município de Arapiraca, Alagoas, no período de junho a agosto do ano de 2016. O delineamento experimental usado foi em blocos casualizados, com 5 tratamentos e 4 repetições. Os tratamentos foram constituídos de cinco níveis de salinidade da água de irrigação (CE1=0,10; CE2=1,10; CE3=2,10; CE4=3,10 e CE5=4,10 dS m-1). As variáveis analisadas foram: número de folhas, altura de plântula, diâmetro de caule, índice SPAD, teor relativo de água na folha, massa seca da parte aérea e massa seca da raiz. Não houve efeito deletério sobre as variáveis estudadas, exceto TRA, mostrando que para as condições do experimento não se alcançou o limiar da cultura da alface. Em conclusão, a aplicação de águas com diferentes teores de sais resultou em uma redução linear no teor relativo de água na folha.

trans-1,3-Disubstituted indanes are conveniently accessed by a stereoselective ring contraction of 1,2-dihydronaphthalenes upon treatment with thallium(III) nitrate (TTN) in acetonitrile. Under these conditions, the oxidative rearrangement of either di- or trisubstituted double bonds is possible.

In the present study, kinetic models for the photo-oxidation of cyclohexane in two different photoreactor systems are discussed: a top illumination reactor (TIR) representative of a slurry reactor, and the so-called internally illuminated monolith reactor (IIMR) representing a reactor containing immobilized catalyst. Results show that the models considered for both reactors predict the experimental values well. The IIMR is shown to be a better design in terms of light delivery at the catalyst surface. For the same photon power (Einst s−1) the IIMR will perform at lower photon irradiance (Einst m−2 s−1) since the area exposed to the light is higher. It will be shown that the catalyst can thus be used more efficiently in the IIMR

A method for isotopic determination of silicon by mass spectrometry in plants and soils labeled with 30Si is reported. The development of this method is for use with studies involving the physiological process of absorption, transport, and redistribution of Si in the soil-plant system by use of the stable isotope 30Si as a tracer. The procedure leads to SiF4 formation, and the isotopic determination of Si was based on the measurements of the 28SiF3 +, 29SiF3 +, and 30SiF3 + signals. Relative standard deviation of 30Si abundance measurements (n = 6) were lower than 0.1%, and the detection limit was 0.5 mg Si (dry mass).

Resumen pt: Especies vegetais, cultivadas sob irrigacao em areas semi-aridas, estao propensas aos efeitos adversos de sais soluveis e sodio trocavel na zona radicula...

The reaction of ten cis-octalins and cis-octalones with thallium trinitrate (TTN) leads to different products, depending mainly on the substitution pattern of the substrate. Functionalized cis-hydrindanes were obtained from the reaction of 1,2,3,4,4a,5,8,8a-octahydro-4a-methylnaphthalene and of 1,2,3,4,4a,5,8,8a-octahydro-4a,7-dimethylnaphthalene with TTN in acetonitrile, whereas a cyclic ether was formed treating 1,2,3,4,4a,5,8,8a-octahydro-6,8a-dimethylnaphthalen-1-ol with TTN in trimethylorthoformate (TMOF).

A novel reactor for multi-phase photocatalysis is presented, the so-called internally illuminated monolith reactor (IIMR). In the concept of the IIMR, side light emitting fibers are placed inside the channels of a ceramic monolith, equipped with a TiO2 photocatalyst coated on the wall of each individual channel. The photonic efficiency achieved with the IIMR reactor in the selective photo-oxidation of cyclohexane is 0.062, which is lower than obtained with a top illumination slurry reactor (0.151), but higher than the efficiency of an annular slurry reactor and reactor configuration with side light fibers immersed in a TiO2 slurry, reaching a photonic efficiency of 0.008 and 0.002, respectively. The results are discussed on the basis of differences in photon flows entering the reactors, and the related magnitude of product concentrations.