Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

About: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais is a education organization based out in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 41631 authors who have published 75688 publications receiving 1249905 citations.

Similarities and differences between the Brazilian and African counterparts of the Neoproterozoic Araçuaí-West Congo orogen

Abstract: Abstract The Araçuaí–West Congo orogen encompasses orogenic domains located to the SE of the São Francisco Craton in Brazil, and to the SW of the Congo Craton in Africa. From the opening of the precursor basin to the last orogenic processes, the evolution of the orogen lasted from the very beginning of the Neoproterozoic up to the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary. After the spreading of the South Atlantic Ocean in Cretaceous time, the Araçuaí–West Congo orogen was split into two quite different but complementary counterparts. The Brazilian side (Araçuaí orogen) inherited two thirds of the whole orogenic edifice, including all the Neoproterozoic ophiolite slivers, the entire magmatic arc and syn-collisional to post-collisional magmatism, and the suture zone. The African counterpart (West Congo Belt), a fold–thrust belt free of Neoproterozoic ophiolite and Pan-African orogenic magmatism, inherited the thick pile of bimodal volcanic rocks of the Early Tonian rift stage, implying that the precursor basin was an asymmetrical rift with the thermal–magmatic axis located in the West Congo Belt. Both counterparts of the Araçuaí–West Congo orogen include Neoproterozoic glaciogenic deposits, allowing tentative lithostratigraphic correlations, but identification of the ice ages remains uncertain because the lack of sufficient well-constrained geochronological data.

Occurrence, fate and removal of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in water and wastewater treatment plants—A review

Abstract: This paper reviews the occurrence of Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in water and wastewater worldwide as well as their fate, focusing on the removal by conventional water and wastewater treatment plants and the risk imposed to human health associated to the presence of PhACs in raw and drinking water. For this, it was assessed 23 drinking water treatment plants and 30 municipal wastewater treatment plants around the world of different capacities. Due to the high stability, intrinsic characteristics and low concentration, adsorption to the sludge and biodegradation are the most used path to remove of these compounds in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). In water treatment plants (WTP), chlorination and application of activated granular carbon are the processes associated with the highest removal of pharmaceutical compounds, but, in general, conventional WTPs are able to reduce but not completely remove PhACs in potable water. Carbamazepine, gemfizobril and fenofibrate are found to be the PhACs that risks to human health could not be excluded. This indicates the necessity of investments in advanced techniques for the treatment of water and wastewater. The results also point to the need for more studies focusing on the determination of guideline values for drinking water of more PhACs.

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mucin-like glycoproteins isolated from Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes initiate the synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines by macrophages.

Abstract: Components of Trypanosoma cruzi able to induce the production of IL-12 and other proinflammatory cytokines by macrophages were identified Murine inflammatory macrophages were cultured with live parasites or with cellular components from different developmental forms of T cruzi (ie, trypomastigotes, amastigotes, metacyclic trypomastigotes, and epimastigotes), and the cytokine levels were measured after 24 and 48 h Our results indicate that live trypomastigotes or live amastigotes (but not live epimastigotes or live metacyclic trypomastigotes) as well as trypomastigote extracts (but not extracts derived from epimastigotes) induce IL-12 and TNF-alpha synthesis by macrophages Such biological activity is enhanced in membrane preparations from trypomastigotes Further enrichment of the trypomastigote-derived monokine-inducing factor was obtained by solvent extraction and hydrophobic-interaction chromatography The resultant purified molecules are a family of closely related glycoconjugates with predominant species at 70 to 80 and 120 to 200 kDa These molecules are composed of carbohydrate chains O-linked to a polypeptide backbone that is anchored to the trypomastigote membrane via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol structure The trypomastigote-derived glycoconjugates are active in inducing cytokine synthesis by macrophages at concentrations of 100 ng/ml These effects are highly potentiated by IFN-gamma Mapping of the glycoconjugate molecules to characterize the structural requirements for macrophage activation suggested that nonsaturated acyl fatty acid chains and periodate-sensitive units from the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor are important elements for the infective trypomastigote form to initiate cytokine synthesis by macrophages

Seed germination traits can contribute better to plant community ecology

Abstract: Analyses of functional traits have become fundamental tools for understanding patterns and processes in plant community ecology. In this context, regenerative seed traits play an important, yet overlooked, role because they largely determine the ability of plants to disperse and re-establish. A survey of recent publications in community ecology suggests that seed germination traits in particular are neglected at the expense of other relevant but overused traits based only on seed morphology. As a response to this bias, we discuss the functional significance of seed germination traits in comparison with morphological and biophysical seed traits, and advocate their use in vegetation science. We also demonstrate how research in community assembly, climate change and restoration ecology can benefit from the inclusion of germination traits, encompassing functions that cannot be explained solely by adult plant traits. Seed germination experiments conducted in the laboratory or field to quantify these traits provide ecologically meaningful and relatively easy-to-obtain information about the functional properties of plant communities. We argue that bridging the gap between seed physiologists and community ecologists will improve the prediction of plant assemblages, and propose further perspectives for including seed traits into the research agenda of functional community ecologists.