In vitro vegetative growth and flowering of olive tree in response to GA3 treatment

The phytohormone gibberellin is involved in the regulation of many physiological process including flower induction and shoot growth. In this study, gibberellic acid (GA3) was used in order to induce thereversion of olive tree vegetative buds towards a floral ones in vitro. For this, six varieties (Marsaline, Chemchali, Picholine, Chemlali, Zalmati and Oueslati ) was tested and explants, consisting of a singlenode segments, were grown in media containing three concentrations of GA3 (1, 2 and 10 mg/l). Results show that Marsaline seems to be the most able variety in regenerating floral structures. For this variety,5 cases of reversion were observed mainly on the medium containing 10 mg/l GA3. This same medium was also favorable for this transformation for the other varieties (3 cases on Picholine, one each on Chemchali , Zalmati and Oueslati). The examination of the histological sections confirmed this transformation. In addition, this experiment showed that GA3 can be at the origin of an interestinggrowth rate of vegetative buds, which elongation depend on variety as well as GA3 concentration

Numerical and experimental characterisation of polylactic acid (PLA) processed by additive manufacturing (AM): bending and tensile tests

In additive manufacturing (AM), one of the most popular procedures is material extrusion (MEX). The materials and manufacturing parameters used in this process have a significant impact on a printed product’s quality. The purpose of this work is to investigate the effects of infill percentage and filament orientation on the mechanical properties of printed structures. For this reason, the characterisation of polylactic acid (PLA) was done numerically using the finite element method and experimentally through mechanical tests. The experiments involved three-point bending and tensile tests. The results showed that mechanical performance is highly dependent on these processing parameters mainly when the infill percentage is less than 100%. The highest elastic modulus was exhibited for structures with filament align at 0◦ and 100% infill, while the lowest one was verified for specimen filament aligned at 0◦ and 30% infill. The results demonstrated that the process parameters have a significant impact on mechanical performance, particularly when the infill percentage is less than 100%. Structures with filament aligned at 0◦ and 100% infill showed the maximum elastic modulus, whereas specimens with filament oriented at 0◦ and 30% infill showed the lowest. The obtained numerical agreement indicated that an inverse method based only on the load–displacement curve can yield an accurate value for this material’s elastic modulus.National Innovation Agency (ANI) for MSc grant of Mariana Salgueiro nº POCI-01-0247- FEDER-039733 and Portuguese Foundations for Science and Technology. This project was co-financed by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through SI&IDT Projects in the framework of co-hosting—Competitiveness and Internationalisation Operational Programme (CIOP)—COMPETE 2020, Portugal 2020, with the National Innovation Agency (ANI) as the Intermediate Partner. Fabio Pereira acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UIDB/04033/2020. Mariana Salgueiro and Andrea Zille acknowledge the European Commission and the National Innovation Agency (ANI) for the financial support through the project “ARCHKNIT: Innovative smart textile interfaces for architectural applications”, Ref.: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-039733. This project was co-financed by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through SI&IDT Projects in the framework of co-hosting—Competitiveness and Internationalisation Operational Programme (CIOP)—COMPETE 2020, Portugal 2020, with the National Innovation Agency (ANI) as the Intermediate Partner. Nuno Dourado acknowledges FCT for the conceded financial support through the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2019 and “Programa bilateral de Portugal com a Tunísia”. Charii Fakher acknowledges the « Fondation pour la Recherche Scientifique” for the conceded financial support through “Programa bilateral de Portugal com a Tunísia”

Sleep Quality and Physical Activity as Predictors of Mental Wellbeing Variance in Older Adults during COVID-19 Lockdown:ECLB COVID-19 International Online Survey

Background. The COVID-19 lockdown could engender disruption to lifestyle behaviors, thus impairing mental wellbeing in the general population. This study investigated whether sociodemographic variables, changes in physical activity, and sleep quality from pre- to during lockdown were predictors of change in mental wellbeing in quarantined older adults. Methods. A 12-week international online survey was launched in 14 languages on 6 April 2020. Forty-one research institutions from Europe, Western-Asia, North-Africa, and the Americas, promoted the survey. The survey was presented in a differential format with questions related to responses "pre" and "during" the lockdown period. Participants responded to the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire, and the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results. Replies from older adults (aged &gt;55 years, n = 517), mainly from Europe (50.1%), Western-Asia (6.8%), America (30%), and North-Africa (9.3%) were analyzed. The COVID-19 lockdown led to significantly decreased mental wellbeing, sleep quality, and total physical activity energy expenditure levels (all p &lt; 0.001). Regression analysis showed that the change in total PSQI score and total physical activity energy expenditure (F-(2,F- 514) = 66.41 p &lt; 0.001) were significant predictors of the decrease in mental wellbeing from pre- to during lockdown (p &lt; 0.001, R-2: 0.20). Conclusion. COVID-19 lockdown deleteriously affected physical activity and sleep patterns. Furthermore, change in the total PSQI score and total physical activity energy expenditure were significant predictors for the decrease in mental wellbeing.</p

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

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