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Modern agriculture seeks, through technology, to increase agricultural productivity, aiming at greater sustainability during food production. The application of vitamins meets this objective, acting as a biostimulant for different cultivation conditions. In this sense, the aim of this research is to evaluate the effect of the foliar application of nicotinamide on the soybean crop in two growing environments. The treatments were composed of the nicotinamide concentrations of 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 mg L−1 of water applied when the plants were at the R3 stage (beginning of pod formation), exogenously, by foliar spraying. The application of nicotinamide resulted in increases in the vegetative traits of plant height and the number of branches per plant by 9.7 and 7.8%, respectively. Regarding the productive characteristics, considering the average of the two cultivation sites, the application of the vitamin resulted in increments of about 15.62, 18.57, 20.53, 4.32, and 19.19% on the number of pods, number of grains, mass of grains per plant, mass of 1,000 grains, and yield, respectively. In this way, we conclude that nicotinamide, applied at concentrations ranging from 237.8 to 373.8 mg L−1, promotes benefits to soybean growth and yield in different environments, and can be considered as a biostimulant.

The prevalence of helminths in horses may vary, depending on climatic factors and host susceptibility. The objective of this study was to evaluate the seasonal dynamics of helminth infection in grazing horses, from October 2015 to September 2016. In total, 104 crossbred horses of different age groups, males and females in a single herd, participated in this study. Individual fecal samples were collected every 28 days for counting of eggs per gram of feces (EPG) and fecal cultures. The horses were evaluated individually for weight, body condition score (BCS) and clinical status. Climatic information relating to the farm was also collected. The categories most affected by helminths were foals and senior horses, with EPG averages of 1271.9 and 1186.5, respectively. The EPG averages for all animal categories together, in the four seasons were: 1042.1 spring; 1508.9 summer; 817.8 autumn; and 571.1 winter. Through the body condition evaluation, it was seen that senior animals presented the lowest BCS in all seasons. It was concluded that the season in which these animals were most affected by helminth infections was the summer and that the most susceptible categories were foals and senior horses.

In this paper we report the trauma suffered by a green turtle (Chelonia mydas), caused by a collision with a motorboat, and describe the case ante and post-mortem. An adult female green turtle was rescued alive on December 2, 2016 at Ponta Negra beach, municipality of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The rescued animal was sent to the Marine Fauna Rehabilitation Center (PCCB-UERN), municipality of Areia Branca (RN), in Brazil. Physical examination revealed an excellent body score, noisy breathing, moderate dehydration, absence of hind limb and cloacal reflexes when stimulated by pressure, and two traumatic injuries characteristic of a collision with a motorboat. After three days of supportive treatment, the animal died and was immediately sent for necropsy. The animal had a complete fracture of the vertebral bodies (dorsal elements D9 and D10) and spinal cord section. The entire gastrointestinal tract had food content, in addition to sharp injuries in the colon caused by the bone fragments of the fractured carapace. The lungs were congested, hemorrhagic with frothy and bloody secretion, and interstitial bronchiole fibrosis. There was also present some fibrin and a large number of leukocyte cells, consisting mainly of macrophages. The liver was enlarged, with rounded edges and thickening of the capsule, multifocal areas of hepatocellular necrosis, and dissociation of the hepatocyte cords. The collision resulted in the exposure of the coelomic cavity and spinal cord, causing the animal intense pain, paralysis of the hind limbs and cloaca, septicemia, and consequently, death.

The replication of hepatitis A virus (HAV) is via a complementary negative-strand RNA. Each negative strand may serve as a template for the synthesis of many positive strands. The aim of this study was to detect the intermediate replicative (negative strand) of HAV in order to monitor its replication in vitro and in vivo. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was standardized to detect the intermediate replicative of HAV in cell culture and liver from non-human primates infected experimentally. HAV primers from the 5′ non-translated region and VP3 were used in the cDNA synthesis of negative-strand RNA. The negative strand was detected in the infected cell lines and liver by highly strand-specific rT th recombinant Thermus thermophilus DNA polymerase reverse transcription followed by quantitative PCR. The results indicate that the negative-strand HAV RNA can be detected in vivo and in vitro. This model is an approach for assessing the dynamic patterns of replication and should represent a valuable tool for the monitoring of HAV replications in cell cultures and for the evaluation of experimental infections in animal models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite-type oxides such as La1− x Ca x NiO3 ( x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8) have been prepared from citrate precursors and characterized by XRD, TPR, TG-H2 and XPS. Catalytic experiments in the reforming of CH4 with CO2 have been carried out in a tubular reactor at 750 °C and atmospheric pressure. After the catalytic tests the catalysts were studied by TPO and SEM. Partial substitution of La by Ca was performed to stabilize Ni particles and to prevent carbon deposition. The XRD profiles showed that the perovskite structure is the only compound identified within the 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05 range, whereas for x ≥ 0.1 compounds such as spinel-type La2NiO4, NiO and CaO were observed in addition to the perovskite oxide. On the other hand, segregation of NiO, even in the unsubstituted perovskite ( x = 0.0), was confirmed by TPR and XPS. The catalytic tests showed that the replacement of La by Ca, which has a lower ionic radius, favored a higher activity and stronger resistance to carbon deposition. However, this coking resistance depended on the Ca-loading and the catalysts with x = 0.05 and x = 0.8 were the most stable against deactivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main issues in the area of drilling and production in deep and ultra-deep water in the oil industry is the formation of natural gas hydrates. Hydrates are crystalline structures resembling ice, which are usually formed in conditions of high pressure and low temperature. Once these structures are formed, they can grow and agglomerate, forming plugs that can eventually completely or partially block the production lines, causing huge financial losses. To predict flow behavior of these fluids inside the production lines, it is necessary to understand their mechanical behavior. This work analyzes the rheological behavior of hydrates slurries formed by a mixture of water and Tetrahydrofuran (THF) under high pressure and low temperature conditions, close to the ones found in deep water oil exploration. The THF hydrates form similar structures as the hydrates originally formed in the water-in-oil emulsions in the presence of natural gas, at extreme conditions of high pressure and low temperature. The experiments revealed some important issues that need to be taken into account in the rheological measurements. The results obtained show that the hydrate slurry viscosity increases with pressure. Oscillatory tests showed that elasticity and yield stress also increase with pressure.

Introduction: A 20-year-old female who experienced severe pain during six weeks after dental treatment was followed by oral surgeries. This article focuses on the usage of high dose of oral L-ascorbic acid for pain alleviation which did not respond to conventional pain medication. Observation: A female patient complaining about severe pain in tooth number 31 which was measured at every visit she made to the office, using Numerical Rating Pain Scale (NRPS) as the model for registration. Comments: Implementation of different types of analgesics along with laser-therapy were not able to reduce patient's ache during forty four consecutive days. Pain relief was only obtained at the next day with L-ascorbic acid supplementation to patient's previous medication. A complete absence of pain was reported by the patient on the seventh day after the ascorbate intake. Conclusion: Given to its action of mediating a variety of essential biological and biochemical functions, benefits, low cost, and safety, L-ascorbic acid could be considered by general dentists and oral surgeons as possible pain modulator after oral/dental surgical procedures.

Polycrystalline specimens of Cu-Al-Be shape memory alloys were homogenized at 1123K during 12h and water-quenched at room temperature. The phase transformation temperatures were determined via optical microscopy technique, using a cooling/heating device attached to the microscope stage. Comparisons have been made with data obtained via differential scanning calorimetry. The data show that the former technique can be successfully applied to the determination of typical transition temperatures occurring in shape memory alloys. As far as sample related problems are concerned, the former technique can also represent an advantageous alternative over the latter given the fact that the analyses can be performed in more representative area. The Mf and As temperatures precise detection depend on the chosen resolution of the optical microscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed at investigating whether the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) treatment would impact the neutralizing antibody production, viremia levels and the kinetics of serum soluble mediators upon planned 17DD-Yellow Fever (YF) primovaccination (Bio-Manguinhos-FIOCRUZ) of primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). A total of 34 pSS patients and 23 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. The pSS group was further categorized according to the use of HCQ (HCQ and Non-HCQ). The YF-plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT ≥1:50), YF viremia (RNAnemia) and serum biomarkers analyses were performed at baseline and subsequent time-points (Day0/Day3-4/Day5-6/Day7/Day14-D28). The pSS group showed PRNT titers and seropositivity rates similar to those observed for HC (GeoMean = 238 vs 440, p  = .11; 82% vs 96%, p  = .13). However, the HCQ subgroup exhibited lower seroconversion rates as compared to HC (GeoMean = 161 vs 440, p  = .04; 69% vs 96%, p  = .02) and Non-HQC (GeoMean = 161 vs 337, p  = .582; 69% vs 94%, p  = .049). No differences in YF viremia were observed amongst subgroups. Serum biomarkers analyses demonstrated that HCQ subgroup exhibited increased levels of CCL2, CXL10, IL-6, IFN-γ, IL1-Ra, IL-9, IL-10, and IL-2 at baseline and displayed a consistent increase of several biomarkers along the kinetics timeline up to D14-28. These results indicated that HCQ subgroup exhibited a deficiency in assembling YF-specific immune response elicited by 17DD-YF primovaccination as compared to Non-HCQ subgroup. Our findings suggested that hydroxychloroquine is associated with a decrease in the humoral immune response after 17DD-YF primovaccination.