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We investigated whether dietary supplementation with Aurantiochytrium sp. meal, a DHA-rich source (docosahexaenoic acid, 22: 6 n-3), fed during long-term exposure to cold-suboptimal temperature (22 °C, P1), followed by short-term exposure to higher temperatures (28 °C, P2, and 33 °C, P3), would promote oxidative damage in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Two supplementation levels were tested: 1.0 g 100 g

Objective To investigate the association between burnout and quality of life among nursing staff at intensive care units during the new coronavirus pandemic and identify the influence of sociodemographic variables. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 109 nursing staff members at intensive care units of a public hospital in Brazil. Data collection involved the administration of a sociodemographic questionnaire as well as the WHOQOL-Bref and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. Results The participants presented a high state of burnout and a low score in the physical domain of the quality-of-life instrument. Men (p = 0.037), income (p = 0.011) and burnout (p p p p Conclusion Our findings showed that burnout due to occupational circumstances affected negatively the quality of life perceptions of nursing staff working at intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background Assessment tools are commonly used in different fields of health to assist in the diagnosis, the evaluation of the response to treatment, the measurement of quality of life and the establishment of the prognosis. Objectives Translate, culturally adapt and perform the psychometric validation of the Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8) for use in the Brazilian population. Methods Cross-cultural adaptation followed a combination of guidelines and for psychometric evaluation a sample of 300 patients was recruited. All recommended measurement properties by the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement Instruments were evaluated, including analysis by an expert committee and analysis by the target public. The Skindex-16 was used for the evaluation of convergent validity and Cronbach’s alpha was used for the determination of the internal consistency of the translated version of the SSS-8. Results The final version received approval from five experts and the agreement index was 100% for all items. During the pretest, the scale was administered to 300 patients with psoriasis and none of the items needed to be altered. A moderate correlation was found between the Skindex-16 and SSS-8-BRA. In the analysis of internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha for the SSS-8-BRA was 0.81. Conclusion The SSS-8 is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of somatic symptoms in the Brazilian population.

Objective To compare the psychometric performance of a generic and specific instruments in assessing melasma-related quality of life. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 150 patients with melasma attending an outpatient dermatology clinic of a public hospital in São Paulo state, Brazil. Data were collected using a questionnaire containing sociodemographic and clinical data as well as the generic WHOQOL-BREF, and the dermatological-specific Skindex-16 and HRQ-Melasma. Results The overall internal consistency of the domains of the three instruments was ≥ 0.7. A strong positive correlation was identified between the Skindex-16 and HRQ-Melasma domains (0.68-0.78). Item-response theory showed that most Skindex-16 and HRQ-Melasma domains were more informative than WHOQOL-BREF. Conclusion The three instruments for assessing QOL tested presented good psychometric performance, with satisfactory internal consistency values. Only the two dermatological instruments, however, demonstrated a strong correlation between the domains that assess social, emotional, and functional aspects of QOL, indicating that both were able to identify impairments in other QOL dimensions in addition to the physical domain.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-29T08:32:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-09-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) The prospection of new degrading enzymes of the plant cell wall has been the subject of many studies and is fundamental for industries, due to the great biotechnological importance of achieving a more efficient depolymerization conversion from plant polysaccharides to fermentable sugars, which are useful not only for biofuel production but also for various bioproducts. Thus, we explored the shotgun metagenome data of a bacterial community (CB10) isolated from sugarcane bagasse and recovered three metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). The genomic distance analyses, along with phylogenetic analysis, revealed the presence of a putative novel Chitinophaga species, a Pandoraea nosoerga, and Labrys sp. isolate. The isolation process for each one of these bacterial lineages from the community was carried out in order to relate them with the MAGs. The recovered draft genomes have reasonable completeness (72.67–100%) and contamination (0.26–2.66%) considering the respective marker lineage for Chitinophaga (Bacteroidetes), Pandoraea (Burkholderiales), and Labrys (Rhizobiales). The in-vitro assay detected cellulolytic activity (endoglucanases) only for the isolate Chitinophaga, and its genome analysis revealed 319 CAZymes, of which 115 are classified as plant cell wall degrading enzymes, which can act in fractions of hemicellulose and pectin. Our study highlights the potential of this Chitinophaga isolate provides several plant-polysaccharide-degrading enzymes. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Microbiologia Agropecuária Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Departamento de Biotecnologia Agropecuária e Ambiental Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Laboratório Multiusuário Centralizado para Sequenciamento de DNA em Larga Escala e Análise de Expressão Gênica (LMSeq) Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Microbiologia Agropecuária Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Departamento de Biotecnologia Agropecuária e Ambiental Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Laboratório Multiusuário Centralizado para Sequenciamento de DNA em Larga Escala e Análise de Expressão Gênica (LMSeq) Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) FAPESP: 2010/17520-9 FAPESP: 2016/16624-1 CNPq: Finance Code 001

Carcass characteristic and meat quality from bulls and Nellore steers (n = 64 total) subjected to different grazing heights (15, 25, 35, and 45 cm) were evaluated isolatedly, under continuous grazing and variable load, in pastures of Convert grass. The experimental period was from May 2015 to June 2017, in an area of 16 ha, divided into 16 paddocks of 1 ha. The experimental design was randomized blocks with four replications. Each paddock was grazed by three animals and regulators, used to adjust grazing heights. The final slaughter weight, hot carcass, and crude protein in the meat of steers were higher when the pastures were managed at 42 cm. When the pasture was managed between 25 and 35 cm in height, greater fat thickness, marbling, muscle:bone and muscle+fat:bone ratio and lower color* of the meat and percentage of bone were found. For the steers, the height of 40 cm provided higher fat thickness and marbling in the meat. The loss during thawing in meat was greater at 28 cm in height. The heights of grazing alter the carcass characteristics and meat of bulls and steers.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T17:18:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-08-01 Brazil is one of the greatest producers of orange and its orange juice processing industry produces large volumes of solid and liquid waste daily. As an efficient use of the residues from citrus industry, production of bioethanol is highlighted. However, the generation of bioethanol produces a liquid effluent as a by-product, known as vinasse. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of an effluent from citrus industries, orange vinasse, when applied to soil using Allium cepa seeds. The evaluation was performed by means of germination, root growth, and genotoxic and mutagenic parameters. The EC50 (effectiveness concentration) and ½ EC50, defined in the germination test, were used for genotoxicity tests. Toxicity was observed in dilutions above 40%, which was responsible for reducing the germination speed index. Genotoxicity was observed only using the EC50 and mutagenicity was not detected. According to the results, orange vinasse showed toxicity similar to the sugar cane vinasse, so caution is suggested in the disposal of this effluent into the environment. Institute of Bioscience Rio Claro UNESP—São Paulo State University School of Civil Engineering Architecture and Urban Design University of Campinas Institute of Bioscience Rio Claro UNESP—São Paulo State University

Over the years, sinking electrical discharge machining has become one of the most important production technologies to manufacture very accurate three-dimensional complex components on any electrically conductive material. This article reports a literature review on the diversity of conventional and non-conventional materials that are used or have potential to be used as EDM electrodes. In addition, additive manufacturing of EDM electrodes are also reviewed.

The cost of a part manufactured by electrical dischargeEDM machining (EDM) is mainly determined by electrode cost. The production of electrodes by conventional machining processes is complex, time consuming, and can account for over 50 % of the total EDM process costs. The emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technologies provide the possibility of direct fabrication of EDM electrodes. Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an alternative AM technique because it has the possibility to directly produce functional components, reducing the tool-room lead time and total EDM costs. The main difficulty of manufacturing an EDM electrode using SLS is the selection of an appropriate material, once both processes require different material properties. The current work focused on the investigation of appropriate materials that fulfill EDM and SLS process demands. Three new metal-matrix materials composed of Mo–CuNi, TiB2–CuNi, and ZrB2–CuNi were developed and characterized. Electrodes under adequate SLS conditions were manufactured through a systematic methodology. EDM experiments using different discharge energies were carried out, and the performance evaluated in terms of material removal rate and volumetric relative wear. The results showed that the powder systems composed of Mo–CuNi, TiB2–CuNi, and ZrB2–CuNi revealed to be successfully processed by SLS, and the EDM experiments demonstrated that the new composite electrodes are promising materials. The work also suggests important topics for future research work on this field.

The production of electrical discharge machining (EDM) electrodes by conventional machining processes can account for over 50 % of the total EDM process costs. The emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technologies provide the possibility of direct fabrication of EDM electrodes. Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an alternative AM technique because it has the possibility to reduce the tool-room lead time and total EDM costs. The main difficulty of manufacturing an EDM electrode using SLS is the selection of an appropriate material. This work investigated the direct production of EDM electrodes by means of the SLS using a newly developed non-conventional metal–matrix composite material composed of a metallic matrix (CuNi) and an advanced ceramic (ZrB2). The influence of important SLS parameters and material content on the densification behavior and porosity of the electrodes was investigated. EDM experiments were conducted to observe the electrodes behavior and performance. It was found that the ZrB2-CuNi electrodes could be successfully manufactured by SLS. Interlayer bonding and porosity are directly influenced by the layer thickness. Smaller layer thicknesses improved bonding between layers and decreased the porosity of the parts. The laser scan speed has a significant effect on the densification behavior. The scan line spacing affects the pore structure by means of overlapping. The surface morphology of the samples was not affected by varying the scan line spacing. The ZrB2-CuNi electrodes presented a much superior performance than SLS copper powder electrodes, but inferior to solid copper electrodes.

Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) is a major HIV-related illness caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii. Definitive diagnosis of PcP requires microscopic detection of P. jirovecii in pulmonary specimens. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of two serum markers in the diagnosis of PcP. Serum levels of (1–3)-beta-d-glucan (BG) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were investigated in 100 HIV-positive adult patients and 50 healthy blood donors. PcP cases were confirmed using indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal anti-Pneumocystis antibodies and nested-PCR to amplify the large subunit mitochondrial rRNA gene of P. jirovecii in pulmonary specimens. BG and LDH levels in serum were measured using quantitative microplate-based assays. BG and LDH positive sera were statistically associated with PcP cases (P ≤ 0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values (PPV/NPV), and positive/negative likelihood ratios (PLR/NLR) were 91.3 %, 61.3 %, 85.1 %, 79.2 %, 2.359, and 0.142, respectively, for the BG kit assay, and 91.3 %, 35.5 %, 75.9 %, 64.7 %, 1.415 and 0.245, respectively, for the LDH test. Serologic markers levels combined with the clinical diagnostic criteria for PcP were evaluated for their usefulness in diagnosis of PcP. The most promising cutoff levels for diagnosis of PcP were determined to be 400 pg/ml of BG and 350 U/l of LDH, which combined with clinical data presented 92.8 % sensitivity, 83.9 % specificity, 92.8 % PPV, 83.9 % NPV, 5.764 PLR and 0.086 NLR (P < 0.001). This study confirmed that BG is a reliable indicator for detecting P. jirovecii infection. The combination between BG/LDH levels and clinical data is a promising alternative approach for PcP diagnosis.