Study of 16 Portuguese activated sludge systems based on filamentous bacteria populations and their relationships with environmental parameters

A survey in 16 activated sludge waste water treatment plants (WWTP) was conducted to contribute to the knowledge of the environmental parameters that determine the composition of the filamentous community. A total of 128 samples of mixed liquor from municipal WWTP were collected during 2 years, and 22 filamentous morphotypes were identified. The most frequent and abundant filamentous bacteria were, in both cases and by this order, type 0041/0675, type 0092, Microthrix parvicella and 1851, nocardioforms and Haliscomenobacter hydrossis. Concerning dominance, type 1851 was the most frequently dominant morphotype, followed by M. parvicella and types 0092 and 0041/0675. These were also, and by this order, the dominant morphotypes during bulking occurrences. Significant correlations were obtained between the abundance of filamentous bacteria and environmental parameters, but multivariate statistical analysis only confirmed the correlation between type 0092 and Sludge Volume Index (SVI), emphasizing the association of this filament with bulking. The discussion of the results in light of published works was complicated by the random use of terms such as frequency, abundance, and dominance with different and often unclear meanings. This reinforces the need of clarifying these terms when discussing the causes of filamentous overgrowth in WWTP.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the European Community fund FEDER, through Program COMPETE, in the ambit of the Projects FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007025 (PTDC/AMB/68393/2006), PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013, RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), and the Project BBioEnv - Biotechnology and Bioengineering for a sustainable world,REF. NORTE-07-0124- FEDER-000048, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. PhD grant SFRH/BD/64848/200

<i>Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense</i> transmitted by a single tsetse fly bite in vervet monkeys as a model of human African trypanosomiasis

Sleeping sickness is caused by a species of trypanosome blood parasite that is transmitted by tsetse flies. To understand better how infection with this parasite leads to disease, we provide here the most detailed description yet of the course of infection and disease onset in vervet monkeys. One infected tsetse fly was allowed to feed on each host individual, and in all cases infections were successful. The characteristics of infection and disease were similar in all hosts, but the rate of progression varied considerably. Parasites were first detected in the blood 4-10 days after infection, showing that migration of parasites from the site of fly bite was very rapid. Anaemia was a key feature of disease, with a reduction in the numbers and average size of red blood cells and associated decline in numbers of platelets and white blood cells. One to six weeks after infection, parasites were observed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), indicating that they had moved from the blood into the brain; this was associated with a white cell infiltration. This study shows that fly-transmitted infection in vervets accurately mimics human disease and provides a robust model to understand better how sleeping sickness develops

Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: preliminary results

Reconstructing past water availability, both as rainfall and irrigation, is important to answer questions about the way society reacts to climate and its changes and the role of irrigation in the development of social complexity. Carbon stable isotope analysis of archaeobotanical remains is a potentially valuable method for reconstructing water availability. To further define the relationship between water availability and plant carbon isotope composition and to set up baseline values for the Southern Levant, grains of experimentally grown barley and sorghum were studied. The cereal crops were grown at three stations under five different irrigation regimes in Jordan. Results indicate that a positive but weak relationship exists between irrigation regime and total water input of barley grains, but no relationship was found for sorghum. The relationship for barley is site-specific and inter-annual variation was present at Deir ‘Alla, but not at Ramtha and Khirbet as-Samra

Sprint interval and sprint continuous training increases circulating CD34+ cells and cardio-respiratory fitness in young healthy women

The improvement of vascular health in the exercising limb can be attained by sprint interval training (SIT). However, the effects on systemic vascular function and on circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) which may contribute to endothelial repair have not been investigated. Additionally, a comparison between SIT and sprint continuous training (SCT) which is less time committing has not been made

Spatial heterogeneity and peptide availability determine CTL killing efficiency in vivo

The rate at which a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) can survey for infected cells is a key ingredient of models of vertebrate immune responses to intracellular pathogens. Estimates have been obtained using in vivo cytotoxicity assays in which peptide-pulsed splenocytes are killed by CTL in the spleens of immunised mice. However the spleen is a heterogeneous environment and splenocytes comprise multiple cell types. Are some cell types intrinsically more susceptible to lysis than others? Quantitatively, what impacts are made by the spatial distribution of targets and effectors, and the level of peptide-MHC on the target cell surface? To address these questions we revisited the splenocyte killing assay, using CTL specific for an epitope of influenza virus. We found that at the cell population level T cell targets were killed more rapidly than B cells. Using modeling, quantitative imaging and in vitro killing assays we conclude that this difference in vivo likely reflects different migratory patterns of targets within the spleen and a heterogeneous distribution of CTL, with no detectable difference in the intrinsic susceptibilities of the two populations to lysis. Modeling of the stages involved in the detection and killing of peptide-pulsed targets in vitro revealed that peptide dose influenced the ability of CTL to form conjugates with targets but had no detectable effect on the probability that conjugation resulted in lysis, and that T cell targets took longer to lyse than B cells. We also infer that incomplete killing in vivo of cells pulsed with low doses of peptide may be due to a combination of heterogeneity in peptide uptake and the dissociation, but not internalisation, of peptide-MHC complexes. Our analyses demonstrate how population-averaged parameters in models of immune responses can be dissected to account for both spatial and cellular heterogeneity

Two-Nucleon Momentum Distributions Measured in 3He(e,e'pp)n

We have measured the 3He(e,e'pp)n reaction at 2.2 GeV over a wide kinematic range. The kinetic energy distribution for `fast' nucleons (p > 250 MeV/c) peaks where two nucleons each have 20% or less, and the third nucleon has most of the transferred energy. These fast pp and pn pairs are back-to-back with little momentum along the three-momentum transfer, indicating that they are spectators. Experimental and theoretical evidence indicates that we have measured distorted two-nucleon momentum distributions by striking the third nucleon and detecting the spectator correlated pair.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR

Single pi+ Electroproduction on the Proton in the First and Second Resonance Regions at 0.25GeV^2 < Q^2 < 0.65GeV^2 Using CLAS

The ep -> e'pi^+n reaction was studied in the first and second nucleon resonance regions in the 0.25 GeV^2 < Q^2 < 0.65 GeV^2 range using the CLAS detector at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. For the first time the absolute cross sections were measured covering nearly the full angular range in the hadronic center-of-mass frame. The structure functions sigma_TL, sigma_TT and the linear combination sigma_T+epsilon*sigma_L were extracted by fitting the phi-dependence of the measured cross sections, and were compared to the MAID and Sato-Lee models.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Synthesis of iron-doped TiO2 nanoparticles by ball-milling process : the influence of process parameters on the structural, optical, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) absorbs only a small fraction of incoming sunlight in the visible region thus limiting its photocatalytic efficiency and concomitant photocatalytic ability. The large-scale application of TiO2 nanoparticles has been limited due to the need of using an ultraviolet excitation source to achieve high photocatalytic activity. The inclusion of foreign chemical elements in the TiO2 lattice can tune its band gap resulting in an absorption edge red-shifted to lower energies enhancing the photocatalytic performance in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this research work, TiO2 nanoparticles were doped with iron powder in a planetary ball-milling system using stainless steel balls. The correlation between milling rotation speeds with structural and morphologic characteristics, optical and magnetic properties, and photocatalytic abilities of bare and Fedoped TiO2 powders was studied and discussed.This work was partially financed by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia-under the project PTDC/FIS/120412/2010: "Nanobased concepts for Innovative & Eco-sustainable constructive material's surfaces.