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Macrobrachium carcinus is a Brazilian native prawn with recognized potential for use in aquaculture activities. The aim of this study was to describe and illustrate in detail the morphology of the M. carcinus foregut. The foregut comprises the mouth, esophagus and stomach. It is lined by a simple cylindrical epithelium overlain by chitinous cuticle. The cardiac chamber is well supplied with muscles and lined with chitin thickened in places to form a complex, articulating set of ossicles. The ossicles and setae inside the cardiac chamber seem to direct the food movement through the cardiac chamber and sort the food according to particle size as digestion takes place. Twenty-one basic ossicles were observed in the stomach of M. carcinus and are divided into seven categories, reflecting their presumed functional roles. The significance of these morphological features is discussed in terms of its implication in feeding management that can support future commercial farms of this important fishery resource.

Las especies de cedros nativos de las Yungas (Cedrela balansae, C.saltensis y C.an- gustifolia), presentan un gran potencial para el desarrollo de plantaciones forestales, dadas sus tasas de crecimiento, la calidad de su madera y su presencia en el mercado. La principal limitante está dada por la incidencia de Hypsipyla grandella (Lep. Pyra- lidae), una de las plagas forestales más severas conocidas en el trópico. El principal daño es causado por la larva que destruye el brote terminal principal y lateral, barrenando los ápices y haciendo túneles en los tallos jóvenes de árboles del genero Cedrela (cedros). Los rebrotes de las plantas afectadas por repetidos ataques del insecto, dan como resultado numerosas ramas laterales y, consecuentemente, árboles mal formados, indeseables para la producción de madera (Briceño Vergara, A., 1997). El objetivo fue estudiar la dinámica poblacional de adultos, el patrón de ataques sobre renovales, para determinar cuál es el momento oportuno de control y establecer una periodicidad de aplicación para la evaluación de productos potencialmente registrables para uso forestal, en el marco del Manejo Integrado de Plagas. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T22:59:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_9232_Tese Marcella Leite Porto.pdf: 2664163 bytes, checksum: cd2286f5f1df4b303ce152e630d433aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-07 As células-tronco de tecidos com intensa renovação celular são mais suscetíveis a danos celulares. Embora a resposta a este processo em células-tronco hematopoiéticas (CTHs) é crucial, os mecanismos pelos quais a homeostase hematopoiética é sustentada ainda não são completamente compreendidos. Sabese que o envelhecimento aumenta os níveis de espécies reativas de oxigênio (EROS) e inflamação, que contribuem para o aumento da proliferação, senescência ou apoptose, levando ao prejuízo das propriedades de auto-renovação e plasticidade dessas células. Neste estudo, avaliou-se a produção de EROS por citometria de fluxo, danos ao DNA pelo ensaio do cometa alcalino, apoptose por anexina-V/PI, senescência pelo comprimento relativo do telômero e expressão de beta-galactosidase e plasticidade celular em camundongos C57BL/6 de 2, 12 e 24 meses de idade. O envelhecimento promoveu um aumento nos níveis intracelulares de anions superóxido, peróxido de hidrogênio, óxido nítrico, peroxinitrito / hidroxila em comparação às células dos animais jovens. Observou-se que as mitocôndrias e NADPHox foram as principais fontes de produção de EROS nos três grupos estudados, enquanto CYP450 contribuiu para aumento dos níveis nos grupos de 12 e 24 meses, e xantina oxidase apenas no grupo de animais com 24 meses de idade. Além disso, observou-se danos no DNA e apoptose no grupo 12 meses (4.2- e 2 vezes, respectivamente) e 24 meses (6- e 4 vezes, respectivamente). As CTHs de animais de 24 meses exibiram redução no comprimento do telômero e menor expressão dos marcadores de auto-renovação e plasticidade celular quando comparadas às CTHs de animais de 2 meses de idade. Estes dados sugerem que o envelhecimento prejudica a funcionalidade de CTHs e que estas alterações associadas à idade podem afetar a eficácia do transplante em terapias celulares. Palavras-chave: célula-tronco hematopoiética, envelhecimento, estresse oxidativo, dano no DNA, apoptose e senescência. ABSTRACT Stem cells of intensely regenerative tissues are susceptible to cellular damage. Although the response to this process in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is crucial, the mechanisms by which hematopoietic homeostasis is sustained are not completely understood. Aging increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and inflammation, which contribute to increased proliferation, senescence or apoptosis, leading to self-renewal premature exhaustion. In this study, we assessed ROS production by flow cytometry, DNA damage by comet assay, apoptosis by annexinV/PI, senescence by relative telomere length and beta-galactosidase expression and cell plasticity in young, middle and aged (2-, 12- and 24-month-old, respectively) C57BL/6 mice. Aged HSCs showed an increase in intracellular superoxide anion (1.4-fold), hydrogen peroxide (2-fold), nitric oxide (1.6-fold), peroxynitrite/hidroxil (2.6- fold) compared with young cells. We found that mitochondria and NADPHox were the major sources of ROS production in the three groups studied, wher-eas CYP450 contributed to middle and aged, and xanthine oxidase only to aged, HSCs. In addition, we observed DNA damage and apoptosis in the middle (4.2- and 2-fold, respectively) and aged (6- and 4-fold, respectively) mice; aged mice also exhibited a significantly shorter telomere length (-1.8-fold) and a lower expression of plasticity markers. These data suggest that aging impairs the functionality of HSCs and that these age-associated alterations may affect the efficacy of aged HSC recovery and transplantation. Key words: hematopoietic stem cell, aging, oxidative stress, DNA damage, apoptosis and senescence.

Gaudium Sciendi, n. 8 (2015)

National audience; Les compartiments moteurs d'un turbo réacteur, compris entre le carter du moteur et les capots de la nacelle, sont le siège d'importantes sources de chaleur. Des systèmes de l'avion y sont installés : prélèvement d'air, générateur électrique, pompes hydrauliques, etc. L'intégration thermique de ces composants est un enjeu majeur des turbo réacteurs modernes. Pour évaluer les niveaux de température d'air qui circule dans cette zone, des mesures sont effectuées à l'aide de thermocouples protégés par des boucliers thermiques afin de limiter l'influence des transferts radiatifs. Cependant, les contraintes de place et le confinement ne permettent pas toujours de positionner les boucliers de manière idéale : ils peuvent être inclinés par rapport à la direction de l'écoulement et les thermocouples peuvent voir en partie des parois chauffées à haute température. L'étude présentée comporte deux parties. Tout d'abord, un banc expérimental composé d'une conduite cylindrique en inox dans laquelle de l'air circule jusqu'à 7 m/s (Re≈33000), et dont une partie de la paroi peut chauffer jusqu'à 300°C, est utilisé pour évaluer les erreurs qui sont commises sur la mesure de la température de l'air par thermocouple lorsque les boucliers thermiques sont installés de manière «conforme» et «non conforme». Les mesures sont effectuées pour des débits d'air et des températures de paroi variables et pour quatre montages différents des boucliers thermiques autour des thermocouples : pour un cas sans bouclier et pour les trois boucliers présentés sur la Fig. 1. Dans chaque cas, les surfaces de réponse des écarts entre les températures mesurée et réelle de l'air sont établies en fonction de la température de la paroi chauffée et de la vitesse de l'air. Dans la deuxième partie, un modèle théorique basé sur un bilan thermique entre échanges convectifs et radiatifs autour de la soudure des thermocouples et sur la méthode des radiosités est développé afin d'évaluer a priori les températures atteintes par les thermocouples protégés ou non par un bouclier. Les mesures expérimentales sont utilisées pour identifier, par une méthode de moindres carrés, les paramètres intervenant dans ce modèle théorique : l'émissivité de la paroi de la conduite, ε p , et les coefficients d'échange convectif, h, autour des thermocouples. Une comparaison avec les mesures expérimentales réalisées lors de cette étude permet de valider le modèle établi à condition de pouvoir déterminer h.

This paper is dedicated to the study of the occurrence of flutter instability in slender prismatic structures of rectangular cross section. A two degree of freedom model is considered and its non dimensional formulation is derived so that a minimum number of non dimensional parameters governing the occurrence of flutter instability are put in evidence. A very good agreement has been obtained by comparing the results of the two degree of freedom model with the results available in the literature. The goal of this document is twofold: (i) to summarize the conditions for which slender structures with rectangular cross sections may get unstable by flutter under the action of steady wind conditions and (ii) to supply a broad collection of data in the form of ready-to-use tables or graphics covering a wide range of cases, that provide a basis for designers to predict the critical wind velocities at the onset of flutter instability.

"Published online 16 Sept. 2014", Increasing awareness of environmental pollution with heavy metals and its long-term and xenobiotic effects has instigated growing research and development efforts towards pollution abatement. The application of different biological materials in the removal and recovery of metals from wastewater has been reported in numerous studies.1–5 Usually, the mechanisms of biosorption are defined as being metabolic independent, but some authors2 have defined biosorption as the ability of biological materials to accumulate heavy metals from waste streams by either metabolic mediation or by purely physico-chemical uptake pathways. These different perspectives will be presented. It is important to identify and evaluate extensively the factors that affect the performance of biosorption systems in order to optimize their practical application. The main operational conditions that significantly influence the biosorption of heavy metals are the solution pH, the biomass and the metal concentrations, the temperature, age of the cells, contact time and the competitive presence of other metals in solution. All these points will be discussed, as well as some application perspectives that will be presented.

Objective: E-learning is a candidate tool for clinical practice guidelines (CPG) implementation due to its versatility, universal access and low costs. We aimed to assess the impact of a five-module e-learning course about CPG for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) on physicians' knowledge and clinical practice. Study design: This work was conceived as a pre/post single-arm intervention study. Physicians from 11 European countries registered for the online course. Personal data, pre- and post-course questionnaires and clinical data about 3 to 5 children with AGE managed by each physician before and after the course were collected. Primary outcome measures included the proportion of participants fully adherent to CPG and number of patients managed with full adherence. Results: Among the 149 physicians who signed up for the e-learning course, 59 took the course and reported on their case management of 519 children

Os autores fizeram a revisão dos casos de hérnia diafragmática congénita admitidos na Unidade de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatais do Hospital de Dona Estefânia de Janeiro de 1984 a Dezembro de 1993 (10 anos). Neste período foram internados 53 recém-nascidos (RN) com hérnia diafragmática congénita tipo Bochdalek. A pesquisa incidiu sobre os índices de gravidade clínicos, radiológico, ventilatório, de oxigenação e mortalidade. Em 54,7% dos RN houve asfixia neonatal. A dificuldade respiratória teve início antes das 6 horas de vida em 43 dos RN (81.1%), mas o início dos sintomas foi imediato em 31. A hérnia localizava-se à esquerda em 77.4% dos casos. Em 5 casos não foi possível a correcção ciffirgia do defeito diafragmático. A mortalidade global foi 47.2%. Dos 48 RN operados faleceram 20 (41.7%). Em todas as crianças que faleceram, excepto numa, houve início imediato dos sintomas. A mortalidade dos RN com índice radiológico >6 foi de 81.5%. O índice ventilatório >1000 e o índice de oxigenação >40 tiveram valor preditivo de morte (mortalidade de 100% em ambos os casos). Nesta casuística, os achados que melhor se correlacionaram com o prognóstico foram: início imediato dos sintomas, I.R. >6, I.V.> 1000 e I.0.> 40., Portuguese Journal of Pediatrics, Vol 28 No 1 (1997)

Objectivo: Avaliar o efeito nas necessidades transfusionais da administração de Eritropoietina Recombinante Humana (EPO-rH) ao recém-nascido (RN) de pré-termo de muito baixo peso. Material e Métodos: Estudo retrospectivo que incluiu 40 RN com peso inferior a 1500 gramas. Foram excluídos os RN com anomalias major do sistema nervoso central, anomalias cromossómicas, malformações cardiovasculares, hemorragia intraventricular de grau III ou com extensão ao parênquima e doença hemolítica ou hemorrágica. Vinte RN efectuaram tratamento com EPO-rH (250 unidades/Kg/dose, subcutânea, 3 vezes por semana) durante 6 semanas ou até à alta clínica (grupo tratado); e 20 RN internados no período de tempo imediatamente anterior constituíram o grupo não tratado. Todos os RN receberam suplementos de ferro e vitamina E. Resultados: Não se observaram diferenças significativas entre os dois grupos de RN relativamente à idade gestacional, sexo, peso ao nascimento, ganho de peso/dia, dias de ventilação mecânica, presença de sépsis e/ou displasia broncopulmonar e volume de sangue colhido. O declínio pós-natal da hemoglobina foi significativamente menor no grupo tratado. A necessidade de transfusões sanguíneas foi também significativamente inferior no grupo tratado: foram transfundidos 50% dos RN tratados vs 90% dos RN não tratados, e os RN tratados receberam um menor volume de sangue transfundido. Não se observaram efeitos secundários relacionados com a administração de EPO-rH. Conclusão: A terapêutica com EPO-rH mostrou-se eficaz na redução das necessidades transfusionais do RN de pré-termo de muito baixo peso., Portuguese Journal of Pediatrics, Vol 32 No 5 (2001)

The removal and biodegradation of an organic toxic pollutant, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), has been investigated. Initially, a screening of different degrading bacteria has been developed and Pseudomonas putida showed the highest degradation ability. This bacterium was immobilised in an inert support, light expanded clay aggregate (LECA). After the biofilm formation on the LECA, the degradation of DEHP was evaluated operating in a fixed bed reactor. In addition, several studies of DEHP adsorption on LECA were carried out in order to determine the mechanism of the degradation process that takes place. The degradation studies demonstrated that the developed system can be applied to DEHP removal and the degradation is due to adsorption process and the activity of P. putida.

The novelty of this work lies in the development of an environmental-friendly technology to remove diethylketone and Ni (II) from aqueous solutions using the interaction between bacteria and clays. Concentrated biomass of Streptococcus equisimilis and vermiculite were used for the removal of both pollutants No published work on the usage of this combination to remove heavy metals and organic solvents from aqueous solutions was acknowledged. The developed work is original and its impact on society and on environment is evident due to the toxicological effects of those substances on the health of living beings.

O ânus ectópico anterior é uma entidade clínica subestimada como causa de obstipação crónica na criança. Apresentamos três casos clínicos de ânus ectópico anterior com sintomatologia idêntica, ou seja, obstipação crónica renitente e dificuldade à evacuação de fezes, cujo diagnóstico foi confirmado pela verificação de um recesso posterior ao exame físico e no enema contrastado. O tratamento cirúrgico constou de anoplastia Y-V num caso e «mini-Perla» nos restantes. Com 4,5 a 7 anos de seguimento, todas as crianças tiveram regressão da sintomatologia sem incontinência anal. O ânus ectópico anterior deve ser rastreado nas crianças com obstipação crónica pois o tratamento cirúrgico é simples e eficaz. A técnica cirúrgica deve ser individualizada., Portuguese Journal of Pediatrics, Vol 30 No 6 (1999)

Coimbra é uma cidade milenar, de elevado valor histórico e arquitetónico, hoje classificada como Património Mundial pela UNESCO (Alta de Coimbra e Universidade). Nas zonas históricas de Coimbra, encontram-se ainda, edifícios medievais em bom estado de conservação. No entanto, os revestimentos e acabamentos históricos, que perduraram ao longo dos séculos, têm vindo recentemente a ser substituídos, perdendo-se assim testemunhos únicos dos materiais e técnicas tradicionais de construção. No âmbito do Projeto “Os revestimentos e os acabamentos nos centros históricos entre tradição e modernidade - bases para um plano de ação e de salvaguarda do Centro Histórico de Coimbra (CHC) – PTDC/AUR-URB/113635/2009”, que tem como objetivo geral a análise dos revestimentos, das superfícies arquitetónicas, das suas cores, texturas e outros elementos que marcam a imagem urbana do Centro Histórico de Coimbra, foi realizada uma caracterização e avaliação do estado de conservação de amostras de argamassas de revestimentos de alguns edifícios do CHC. Na presente comunicação apresenta-se o estudo realizado no Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) sobre os revestimentos de um número limitado de edifícios históricos, que foram considerados representativos dos principais tipos de revestimentos do CHC. Descreve-se sucintamente a metodologia utlizada para a análise da constituição e composição dos revestimentos e para a avaliação do seu estado de conservação; são ainda descritas as amostras selecionadas e os ensaios realizados, e apresentam-se e interpretam-se os resultados dos ensaios efetuados e extraem-se conclusões. Os resultados da caraterização da composição dos revestimentos mais antigos mostraram que o ligante usado é de cal aérea, predominantemente de origem dolomítica. Constatou-se que as argamassas, cuja estratigrafia indica serem mais recentes, são à base de cal aérea calcítica. Em termos do tipo de areia empregue verificou-se ser sempre de natureza siliciosa, embora com variações em termos de mineralogia e granulometria de amostra para amostra. Nas amostras de argamassa mais antigas foram detetados vários produtos de neoformação (nomeadamente resultantes da ação da água e de reações da cal com agregados alterados) e ausência de produtos de degradação, apresentando estas resistências mecânicas e coeficientes de capilaridade compatíveis com argamassas antigas de cal em bom estado de conservação, o que fundamenta a recomendação de se optar pela sua preservação e manutenção. Este conhecimento, além da sua importância como registo histórico, deverá fundamentar o plano de conservação dos revestimentos. 12p Este trabalho tem o apoio do FEDER e FCT, através dos projetos PEst-OE/CTE/UI0073/2011, PEst-C/FIS/UI0036/2011, PTDC/AUR-URB/113635/2009 e FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014163, e ainda através da bolsa SFRH/BD/60389/2009. DM/NMM

Two morphologically different fungi (one green and one white) from contaminated bioreactors with an aqueous solution of diethylketone and Streptococcus equisimilis were isolated and characterized at molecular level by sequencing the amplified ITS region. The ITS region sequence showed 99% match with Alternaria genera for the green fungi and 99% match with the Penicillium genera for the white fungi. The performance of these two fungi to biodegrade different concentrations of diethylketone from aqueous solutions was evaluated. The biodegradation of diethylketone was studied for an initial diethylketone concentration ranging from 0.5 to 4g/L in a batch mode of operation. The biodegradation rate found for both fungi followed the pseudo-second order kinetics for initial concentrations higher than 0.5 g/L and the resulting kinetic parameters are reported. The removal percentages obtained were approximately 100%, for all the initial concentrations tested.

The knowledge and understanding of metal-biomass interactions is crucial to develop and maximize biosorption processes potential to the concentration, removal and recovery of heavy metals from dilute solutions, as well as to define strategies to regenerate and reuse biosorbent in multiple cycles (Ahluwalia and Goyal, 2007; Volesky, 2001). It also turns possible biosorption optimization at a molecular level, including biomass genetic modification to induce changes in morphologic and physiologic characteristics in order to increase metal uptake (Srinath et al., 2002; Volesky, 2001). To reach that purpose, and considering that several mechanisms may contribute to the overall metal uptake depending on the metal and the biosorbent used, environmental factors, and the cell metabolic activity (Dhankhar and Hooda, 2011), it is necessary to study in detail the interactions established in each biosorption system. Heavy metal biosorption involves a combination of several passive accumulation processes, that may include: i) physical adsorption; ii) chemisorption, including ion exchange, coordination, complexation and chelation; iii) and inorganic precipitation (Ahluwalia and Goyal, 2007; Wang and Chen, 2006). According to Gadd (2004), metal-microorganism interactions may be seen as natural strategies to remove, recover or diminish metal toxicity in organic or inorganic forms. Different organisms exhibit different responses to the exposure to toxic ions, varying from transport through cellular membrane, biosorption onto cell walls, entrapment in extracellular structures, precipitation, complexation and redox reactions.

The release of heavy metals in aquatic ecosystems is a matter of great concern due to their toxicity and accumulation in biota. Bottom sediments can act as sink of these pollutants. Several remediation technologies have been applied in order to treat wastewater and contaminated sediments. In this study, a permeable bio-barrier composed by low cost biomaterials was tested for water treatment and sediment protection against metal adsorption. The novelty of this work entails the combination of bacterial biosorption properties with the adsorption capacity of a natural clay. The results of preliminary continuous column experiments reveal the ability of vermiculite to entrap Cu ions, and highlight that metal adsorption can be enhanced by the presence of a Pseudomonas putida biofilm attached to the vermiculite surface.

The performance of two zeolites with different structures and acidity properties was evaluated on the biosorption of Cr(VI) and catalytic oxidation of ethyl acetate. The starting zeolites, HY and HZSM5, were modified by ion exchange treatments in order to obtain zeolites with different acidity and sodium content. Arthrobacter viscosus supported on the different zeolites was used for Cr(VI) recovery from solution. The best removal efficiencies and uptake of chromium were achieved for the Y zeolites due to their higher ion exchange capacity. The Y and ZSM5 zeolites were characterized by ICP-AES, SEM, NH3 chemisorption, XRD and N2 adsorption. Y and ZSM5 zeolites obtained after biosorption of chromium were successfully reused as catalysts in the oxidation of ethyl acetate. The chromium-loaded ZSM5 zeolites were considerably more active and selective towards CO2 than chromium-loaded Y zeolites, essentially due to its different framework structure, textural and acidity properties.

Contamination of soils due to the release of effluents or deposition of wastes containing hexavalent chromium has been arising serious environmental problems. Therefore, the development of cost effectiveness but also ecological cleaning techniques is a matter of great concern among the scientific community. Bioremediation is attracting more and more attention due to its efficiency, low impact in the ecosystems and low cost. In particular, this study approaches a bioleaching technique using an Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans DSM504 pure culture to clean a soil contaminated with hexavalent chromium. Eight batch tests were performed in order to evaluate the effect of combined parameters: operational temperature (26ºC and Troom), hexavalent chromium concentration (50 mg kg-1 and 100 mg kg-1) and pH of the contaminant solution (2 and pHfree). The bioleaching technique herein exposed presented removal values between 33.3% and 83.3%, undergoing higher deviations due to changes on the contamination pH. Generally, it was more efficient when applied to soils contaminated with acid solutions. The lowest and highest values were both observed for operational temperatures of 26ºC and hexavalent chromium concentrations of 50 mg kg-1. Moreover, the highest value was observed for the soil contaminated with a hexavalent chromium solution of pH 2.

Objectives. The main goal of this study is to explore what is meant by “quality of care”(QoC) by both health professionals and patients. This research also intends to comparethe perspectives of nurses, doctors and patients in order to understand whether thesedifferent actors share similar views on what represents QoC. Design and methods. A qualitative study was conducted. The study consisted in 44semi-structured individual interviews (11 doctors; 23 nurses; 10 patients) and in threefocus groups (20 participants: doctors, nurses, patients). Participants were doctors,nurses and patients from several Hospitals in Portugal. Data were analysed using contentanalysis methodology with MaxQDA software. Results. The main content analysis’ results revealed that all participants emphasizetechnical and interpersonal dimensions of QoC. Nevertheless, professionals stressed theavailability of equipment and supplies and the conditions of health care indoor facilities.Patients focused more on their access to health services, namely the availability of healthprofessionals, and on the health status outcome after care. In what the differencesbetween doctors and nurses are concerned, the former tend to highlight the technicalaspects of caremore than the nurses,who tend to refer interpersonal aspects immediately. Conclusions. Although nowadays the importance of health care quality has becomewell-recognized, its definition is still complex. Given that specific aspects are more valuedby certain groups than others, it is important to take in consideration all the stakeholder’sperspectiveswhenmeasuringQoCin orderto continuouslyimproveit in the ‘real’ settings.

In this work, the formation of permeable reactive biobarriers (PRBBs) using Trichoderma longibrachiatum over nylon sponge as bioreactive medium for removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was studied. Colony formation was pretested without PAH presence by inoculation of fungus into nylon sponge. The fungus formed a large quantity of strongly adhesive biofilm among nylon sponge. Afterwards, the ability of the developed bioreactive medium was tested to remediate phenanthrene in aqueous medium and in soil. In aqueous medium, a 90% of phenanthrene concentration reduction was observed after 14 d. However, the pollutant removal in soil requires previous fungus colonization and the attained level was around 70% after 28 d. Subsequently, the formed bioreactive material was used in a glass column reactor to evaluate its application as PRBBs. Mixtures of phenanthrene, benzo[a]anthracene and pyrene at several concentrations, from 100 to 400 μM, were treated. In all cases, the performance of the PRBB was satisfactory and total PAH removals were achieved. These results suggest that PRBBs of T. longibrachiatum supported on nylon sponge can be an effective method for the treatment of PAHs.

The evaluation of road-kill spatial patterns is an important tool to identify the priority of locations for mitigation measures aiming to reduce wildlife mortality on roads. Single-target or multi-species approaches are usually adopted on the implementation of such measures, although their success must be assessed. We aim to test if road-kill hotspots are coincident among different vertebrate groups. If this proves to be right, data on accidents from one group could be used to plan measures applicable to other groups. We identified hotspots using five different grouping criteria: vertebrate Classes (reptiles, birds or mammals), body size (large or small), species commonness (common or rare), type of locomotion (flying or non-flying), and time of activity (nocturnal/crepuscular or diurnal). We analyzed data from road-kill surveys on four roads in southern Brazil, each with at least one year of monitoring. We performed a modified Ripley's K-statistic to recognize scales of road-kill aggregation, and we carried out a hotspot analyses to identify the location of road-kill aggregations for each group described above on each road. To test for similarity in hotspot location among different groups we performed an association test using correlation as the resemblance measure. Hotspot analyses and association tests were done using different spatial scales to evaluate the effect of scales on similarities. Correlation results between groups presented low values at small scales although they had a tendency to increase with raising scales. Our results show that road-kill hotspots are different among groups, especially when analyzed on small scales. We suggest that, for a successful biodiversity approach to mitigation, one should first select general hotspots on large scales and then identify specific hotspots on small scales to implement specific measures. These findings are relevant in a context of existing road networks, where mitigation measures are being planned to reduce impact on wildlife.