Evaluation of marine brown algae and sponges from Brazil as anticoagulant and antiplatelet products

The ischemic disorders, in which platelet aggregation and blood coagulation are involved, represent a major cause of disability and death worldwide. The antithrombotic therapy has unsatisfactory performance and may produce side effects. So, there is a need to seek molecules with antithrombotic properties. Marine organisms produce substances with different well defined ecological functions. Moreover, some of these molecules also exhibit pharmacological properties such as antiviral, anticancer, antiophidic and anticoagulant properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate, through in vitro tests, the effect of two extracts of brown algae and ten marine sponges from Brazil on platelet aggregation and blood coagulation. Our results revealed that most of the extracts were capable of inhibiting platelet aggregation and clotting measured by plasma recalcification tests, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, and fibrinogenolytic activity. On the other hand, five of ten species of sponges induced platelet aggregation. Thus, the marine organisms studied here may have molecules with antithrombotic properties, presenting biotechnological potential to antithrombotic therapy. Further chemical investigation should be conducted on the active species to discover useful molecules for the development of new drugs to treat clotting disorders.     

Effect of routine cardiovascular catheterization on cardiac troponin I concentration in dogs

ObjectiveTo determine changes in cardiac troponin I concentration (cTnI) associated with cardiovascular catheterization in dogs.Animals, materials and methodscTnI was measured after transarterial coil embolization of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), balloon valvuloplasty (BV), and pacemaker implantation (PACE). Dogs undergoing ovariohysterectomy (OHE) were used as a control, with 15 animals in each group. Blood for the cTnI assay was collected at baseline (T0), at 5 h (T5), 24 h (T24) and 10 days (T240) post-procedure. The effects of age, duration and difficulty of the procedure were evaluated.ResultsThere was no difference in cTnI concentration at T0 for any of the groups. There was a significant increase in cTnI concentration for BV and PACE, but not PDA at T5 and T24. PACE at T24 and T240 also had higher cTnI than control. Dogs with longer procedure times had significantly higher concentration of cTnI. There was no correlation between the difficulty of the procedure or peri-procedure complications and cTnI.ConclusioncTnI increased during some cardiovascular catheterization procedures, but returned to normal values at 24–240 h. Patients undergoing long catheterization procedures have increased risk for myocardial injury, but this was not related to short-term prognosis.     

Categorization of birth weight phenotypes for inclusion in genetic evaluations using a deep neural network

Birth weight (BW) serves as a valuable indicator of the economically relevant trait of calving ease (CE), and erroneous data collection for BW could impact genetic evaluations for CE. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the use of deep neural networks (DNNs) for classifying contemporary groups (CGs) based on the method used to generate BW phenotypes. CGs (n = 120,000,000) ranging between 10 and 250 animals were simulated assuming 12 data collection and CG formation scenarios that could impact CG phenotypic variance, including weights recorded with a digital scale (REAL), hoof tape (TAPE), erroneous data collection (DIRTY), and those that were fabricated (FAB). The performance of eight activation functions (AFs; ReLu, Sigmoid, Exponential, ReLu6, Softmax, Softplus, Leaky ReLu, and Tanh) was evaluated. Four hidden layers were used with seven different scenarios relative to the number of neurons. Simulations were replicated 10 times. In general, accuracy (proportion of correct predictions) across AF and numbers of neurons were similar, with mean correlations ranging between 0.91 and 0.99. The AF ReLu, Sigmoid, Exponential, and ReLu6 had the greatest consistency (mean pair-wise correlation among replicates) with an average correlation of greater than 0.85. Independent of the number of neurons used, the sigmoid function produced the highest accuracy (0.99) and consistency (0.93). The model with the greatest accuracy and consistency was then applied to real BW data supplied by the American Hereford Association. In the real data, the lowest phenotypic variance was for FAB CG (2.65 kg²), REAL CG had the largest (15.84 kg²), and TAPE CG was intermediate (6.84 kg²). To investigate the potential impact of FAB data on routine genetic evaluations, CGs classified as FAB in 90% or more of the replicates were removed from the evaluation for CE, and the rank of resulting genetic predictions were compared with the case where records were not removed. The removal of FAB CG had a moderate impact on the prediction of CE expected progeny differences, primarily for animals with intermediate to high accuracy. The results suggest that a well-trained DNN can be effectively used to classify data based on quality metrics prior to the inclusion in routine genetic evaluation.     

Constructed wetlands for the treatment of organic pollutants

Background  Constructed wetlands (wetland treatment systems) are wetlands designed to improve water quality. They use the same processes that occur in natural wetlands but have the flexibility of being constructed. As in natural wetlands vegetation, soil and hydrology are the major components. Different soil types and plant species are used in constructed wetlands. Regarding hydrology surface flow and subsurface flow constructed wetlands are the main types. Subsurface flow constructed wetlands are further subdivided into horizontal or vertical flow. Many constructed wetlands deal with domestic wastewater where BOD and COD (Biochemical and Chemical Oxygen Demand respectively) are used as a sum parameter for organic matter. However, also special organic compounds can be removed. Objective  The objectives are to summarise the state-of-the-art on constructed wetlands for treatment of specific organic compounds, to the present the lack of knowledge, and to derive future research needs. Methods  Case studies in combination with a literature review are used to summarise the available knowledge on removal processes for specific organic compounds. Results and Discussion  Case studies are presented for the treatment of wastewaters contaminated with aromatic organic compounds, and sulphonated anthraquinones, olive mill wastewater, landfill leachate, and groundwater contaminated with hydrocarbons, cyanides, chlorinated volatile organics, and explosives. In general the removal efficiency for organic contaminants is high in all presented studies. Conclusion  Constructed wetlands are an effective and low cost way to treat water polluted with organic compounds. There is a lack of knowledge on the detailed removal pathways for most of the contaminants. Removal rates as well as optimal plant species are substance-specific, and also typically not available. If a constructed wetland provides different environmental conditions and uses different plant species the treatment efficiency can be improved. Recommendations and Outlook  There is a great need to lighten the black box ‘constructed wetland’ to obtain performance data for both microbial activity and the contribution of the plants to the overall removal process. Also genetic modified plants should be considered to enhance the treatment performance of constructed wetlands for specific compounds.     

Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for bisphenol a using chicken immunoglobulins

Bisphenol A was coupled, after derivatization into a suitable hapten, to bovine serum albumin and ovalbumin in order to produce immunizing and coating antigens. The immunizing antigens were injected into chickens, which allowed the isolation of specific bisphenol A immunoglobulins from the egg yolk. These antibodies were used in an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the determination of bisphenol A in aqueous solutions. Various parameters, influencing the assay sensitivity, were evaluated. The applicability of the assay for the determination of bisphenol A in milk was also studied. The assay was not as sensitive as other analytical techniques used in bisphenol A analysis, since typical I(50) levels of 2.5 microM were reached in aqueous solutions. This study nevertheless illustrates the usefulness and the potency of chicken antibodies in the analysis of migration residues from packaging materials using immunochemical techniques. In addition, the assay showed to be quite specific for bisphenol A as well. Only for bisphenol A analogues, cross reactivities of about 40% were reached, enabling the use of the antibodies for the screening of bisphenol A and alike compounds.     

不同基质中栽培的樱桃番茄在夏季热应激下的反应比较

该文旨在比较研究不同栽培基质(土壤、泥炭、泥炭／珍珠岩(1／2)、珍珠岩和营养液循环系统)中生长的樱桃番茄在夏季受热应激时的反应。试验于2002年7、8、9月进行，番茄分别移植到3个温室中，温度设置为：25/20℃，35/25℃，>35/>25℃，分别在番茄不同生长阶段进行。测试分析了温室内环境因子的变化和气体交互作用：温室内温度与湿度(R²：0.894～0.972)、温度与CO₂浓度(R²：0.668～0.786)之间呈线性关系。测定了番茄的生长率，表明茎伸展与栽培基质密切相关。用叶水势来反映受热应激下番茄的水分状况，表明方差分析显示无论是黎明前还是正午，栽培基质和热应激对叶水势的变化有重要的作用。实验结果可正确确定热胁迫影响的生育时期，并为选择夏季番茄生产的适宜栽培基质提供依据。