<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cachaça</Emphasis> yeast strains: alternative starters to produce beer and bioethanol

This work was performed to verify the potential of yeast strains isolated from cachaça distilleries for two specific biotechnological applications: beer and bioethanol production. In the beer production, the strains were tested for characteristics required in brewery practices, such as: capacity to ferment maltose and maltotriose, ability to grow at lowest temperatures, low H₂S production, and flocculation profile. Among the strains tested, two of them showed appropriate characteristics to produce two different beer styles: lager and ale. Moreover, both strains were tested for cachaça production and the results confirmed the capacity of these strains to improve the quality of cachaça. In the bioethanol production, the fermentation process was performed similarly to that used by bioethanol industries: recycling of yeast biomass in the fermentative process with sulfuric acid washings (pH 2.0). The production of ethanol, glycerol, organic acids, dry cell weight, carbohydrate consumption, and cellular viability were analyzed. One strain presented fermentative parameters similar to PE2, industrial/commercial strain, with equivalent ethanol yields and cellular viability during all fermentative cycles. This work demonstrates that cachaça distilleries seem to be an interesting environment to select new yeast strains to be used in biotechnology applications as beer and bioethanol production.     

Fatal primary diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma of the maxillary sinus initially treated as an infectious disease in an elderly patient: A clinicopathologic report

Objective

To report a case of primary diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the maxillary sinus in an 82‐year‐old Caucasian woman.

Background

Diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma of the maxillary sinus has non‐specific signs and symptoms that may be confused with benign inflammatory conditions and upper respiratory infections.

Methods

An incisional biopsy was performed. CD20⁺/CD3^–/Ki‐67: 95% cells were observed.

Conclusion

A good medical history, clinical and imaging evaluations and immunohistochemical reactions are crucial to establish a correct and early diagnosis of DLBCL.     

Automated birdsong recognition in complex acoustic environments: a review

Conservationists are increasingly using autonomous acoustic recorders to determine the presence/absence and the abundance of bird species. Unlike humans, these recorders can be left in the field for extensive periods of time in any habitat. Although data acquisition is automated, manual processing of recordings is labour intensive, tedious, and prone to bias due to observer variations. Hence automated birdsong recognition is an efficient alternative. However, only few ecologists and conservationists utilise the existing birdsong recognisers to process unattended field recordings because the software calibration time is exceptionally high and requires considerable knowledge in signal processing and underlying systems, making the tools less user‐friendly. Even allowing for these difficulties, getting accurate results is exceedingly hard. In this review we examine the state‐of‐the‐art, summarising and discussing the methods currently available for each of the essential parts of a birdsong recogniser, and also available software. The key reasons behind poor automated recognition are that field recordings are very noisy, calls from birds that are a long way from the recorder can be faint or corrupted, and there are overlapping calls from many different birds. In addition, there can be large numbers of different species calling in one recording, and therefore the method has to scale to large numbers of species, or at least avoid misclassifying another species as one of particular interest. We found that these areas of importance, particularly the question of noise reduction, are amongst the least researched. In cases where accurate recognition of individual species is essential, such as in conservation work, we suggest that specialised (species‐specific) methods of passive acoustic monitoring are required. We also believe that it is important that comparable measures, and datasets, are used to enable methods to be compared.     

The effect of fungal-bacterial interaction on the phenolic profile of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus pinea</Emphasis> L.

Studies on the functional significance of bacteria associated with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are scarce, as well as information on the metabolism of the host plant when in symbiosis with ECM fungi. Here we intended to evaluate the phenolic profile of seedlings when associated with Bacillus subtilis (B1), Pisolithus tinctorius (Pis) and their combination (PisB1). The interaction between microorganisms was conducted in three stages: (i) in vitro evaluation of fungal/bacterial interaction, (ii) microcosms, (iii) plant transplantation to natural soil. The profile of phenolic compounds was determined at the end of stages (ii) and (iii) and further supplemented with biometric, nutritional and analysis of the ectomycorrhizal community by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. In the in vitro compatibility test, B1 inhibited fungal growth at all glucose concentrations tested. In the microcosm, the levels of chlorogenic and p-coumaric acid decreased over time, unlike the protocatechuic acid which tended to increase during 70 days. After transplantation to the soil, the levels of phenolic acids decreased in all treatments, while catechin increased. B. subtilis positively influenced the fungus-plant relationship as was evidenced by higher biomass of seedlings inoculated with the dual inoculum (PisB1), both in the microcosm and soil stages. The presence of the bacteria interfered in the composition of the ECM fungal community installed in Pinus pinea L. in the soil. This leads to infer that B. subtilis may have caused a greater effect on the metabolism of P. pinea, especially in synergy with mycorrhizal fungi, than the action of the isolated fungus.     

Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Serra da Canastra National Park in Minas Gerais,Brazil: species,abundance, ecological and seasonal aspects with notes on rickettsial infection

The Cerrado Biome is the second largest in Brazil covering roughly 2 million km², with varying features throughout its area. The Biome is endangered but it is also source of animal species for rural, green urban and degraded rainforest areas. Ticks are among Cerrado species that establish at anthropogenic sites and although information about them is steadily increasing, several features are unknown. We herein report tick species, abundance and some ecological relationships within natural areas of the Cerrado at higher altitudes (800–1500 m) within and around Serra da Canastra National Park, in Minas Gerais State Brazil. In total of 1196 ticks were collected in the environment along 10 campaigns held in 3 years (2007–2009). Amblyomma sculptum was the most numerous species followed by Amblyomma dubitatum and Amblyomma brasiliense. Distribution of these species was very uneven and an established population of A. brasiliense in the Cerrado is reported for the first time. Other tick species (Amblyomma ovale, Amblyomma nodosum, Amblyomma parvum, Ixodes schulzei and Haemaphysalis leporispalustris) were found in lesser numbers. Domestic animals displayed tick infestations of both rural and urban origin as well as from natural areas (Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato, Rhipicephalus microplus, Dermacentor nitens, A. sculptum, A. ovale, Amblyomma tigrinum, Argas miniatus). Amblyomma sculptum had the widest domestic host spectrum among all tick species. DNA of only one Rickettsia species, R. bellii, was found in an A. dubitatum tick. Several biological and ecological features of ticks of the studied areas are discussed.     

Situación funcional como factor independiente asociado con el mal pronóstico de pacientes ancianos ingresados en Cuidados Intensivos

Objective

To assess the association of previous functional status in elderly patients admitted to the ICU, estimated by the Barthel and Short Form-Late Life Function and Disability instrument scales, and the relationship with prognosis and functional capacity at hospital discharge.

Diminishing importance of elaiosomes for acacia seed removal in non-native ranges

Myrmecochorous plants produce seeds with lipid-rich appendages (elaiosomes) which act as a reward for seed-dispersing ants. Seed dispersal is important for exotic species, which often need to establish new mutualistic interactions in order to colonize new non-native habitats. However, little is known about the importance of elaiosomes for seed removal in many of their non-native ranges. We studied ant–seed interactions of elaiosome-bearing and elaiosome-removed seeds of the Australian trees Acacia dealbata and Acacia longifolia in order to assess the relative importance of elaiosomes for seed removal between their native (Australia) and non-native (Portugal) ranges. In Portugal, we also studied the co-occurring native plant species with myrmecochorous seeds, Pterospartum tridentatum and Ulex europaeus, across three contiguous levels of acacia invasion: control (i.e. no acacia), low, and high acacia tree density. Acacia seeds were successfully removed by ants in their non-native region by a diversified assemblage of ant species, even in sites where native plants interacted with only one specialized ant species. In the invaded range, diminishing relative importance of elaiosomes was associated with changes in the ant community due to acacia invasion, and for A. dealbata, ant species richness decreased with increasing acacia tree density. Although seed removal was high for both acacia species, the importance of elaiosomes was proportionally lower for A. dealbata in the non-native region. Native plant species experienced significant reductions in seed removal in areas highly invaded by acacia, identifying another mechanism of displacement of native plants by acacias.     

Nucleotide and nucleoside involvement in immunomodulation in experimental Chagas disease

Whether the Arg913Gln variation (rs11643718, G/A) of SLC12A3 contributes to diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains controversial. We undertook a case–control study to evaluate the association of the SLC12A3-Arg913Gln variation with the risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients undergoing hemodialysis, and analyzed the genotype–phenotype interaction. Unrelated Chinese T2DM patients (n = 372) with diabetic retinopathy were classified into the non-DN (control) group (n = 151; duration of T2DM >15 years, no signs of renal involvement) and the DN–ESRD group (n = 221; ESRD due to T2DM, receiving hemodialysis). Polymerase chain reaction-direct sequencing was used to genotype the SLC12A3-Arg913Gln variation for all participants. The frequency of the GA+AA genotype in the DN–ESRD group was significantly higher than that of the non-DN group (23.1 vs. 9.9%; adjusted OR 2.2 (95% CI 1.3–4.5), P = 0.019). In the non-DN group, GA+AA carriers had a significantly higher urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and diastolic blood pressure compared with GG carriers (both P < 0.05). The SLC12A3-Arg913Gln variation may be associated with increased blood pressure and UAER and, therefore, could be used to predict the development and progression of DN–ESRD in Chinese T2DM patients undergoing hemodialysis.