Filamentous fungi occurrence in free water and biofilms from drinking water storage tanks

In some regions of Brazil, especially where the water is scarce, drinking water is stored in water storage tanks. This practice gives the consumer the guarantee of available water. The water storage conditions such as the exposure to hot weather when the tanks are on rooftops allow the development of microorganisms and microbial biofilms which can deteriorate the water quality and increase the risk to human health [1,2]. This study describes the filamentous fungi (FF) detected in free water and biofilms in drinking water storage tanks in Recife - Pernambuco, Brazil. Five sampling times in triplicate were performed at two distinct points. Colony-forming units (CFU) of FF fungi were determined with 0.45 μm filtration membranes using peptone glucose rose Bengal agar (PGRBA). From the 30 samples analysed a total of 1136 CFU were obtained. The water biofilms were collected from samplers consisting of polyethylene coupons, previously installed in the reservoirs. These coupons were transferred to PGRBA plates and incubated using with the same conditions described for free FF. For the in situ detection of FF in biofilms the Calcofluor White staining technique was used. This procedure demonstrated FF forming biofilms on the surfaces of the coupons. Brazilian legislation does not define limits for FF in drinking water. However considering the potential risk of fungal contamination, the data obtained in this study will contribute to developing future quantitative and qualitative parameters for the presence of fungi in drinking water distribution systems in Brazil.

Contributos do postal ilustrado para a história do Free Card

Dissertação de mestrado em Ciências da Comunicação (área de especialização em Publicidade e Relações Públicas)

Sensitive label-free electron chemical capacitive transducer signal for D-dimer electroanalyses

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2015.09.169.

24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum: gender and parity differences and effects

Background: Pregnancy and postpartum have been associated to several physiological changes;however, empirical evidence was almost exclusively obtained in primiparous women and few studies focus on hormonal changes in men and second-time parents. The main aim of this study is to examine 24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum, comparing women/men and first/second-time parents.Methods: Twenty-six women and 22 men (N = 48) were recruited from an antenatal obstetric unit in Porto, Portugal. 24-h urinary free cortisol was measured at the 2nd and 3rd trimester and at 3-months postpartum. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted, in order to analyze 24-h urinary free cortisol patterns of change over this period. Gender and parity were included in the analyses as potential modifiers, in order to compare women and men, and first-and second-time parents.Results: An increase from the 2nd to the 3rd trimester (p = .006) and a decrease from the 3rd trimester to 3-months postpartum (p = .005) were reported in all parents’ 24-h urinary free cortisol. The interaction effects for Time * Gender (p = .03) and Time * Parity (p = .02) were found. Women and first-time parents revealed higher levels, while men and second-time parents showed lower 24-h urinary free cortisol levels at the 2nd trimester than at 3-months postpartum.Conclusions: Findings appear to clarify the direction, as well as, the timing, gender and parity extension of 24-h urinary free cortisol changes from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum.The same pattern of change in all parents’ 24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum is consistent with the proposed role of hormones in preparation to parenting.

Pre-clinical trials for Machado-Joseph Disease: Hypothesis-based and hypothesis-free therapeutic approaches

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Saúde

A monograph of the free and semi-parasitic Copepoda of the British islands. By G. Stewardson Brady.

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A monograph of the free and semi-parasitic Copepoda of the British islands. By G. Stewardson Brady.

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A monograph of the free and semi-parasitic Copepoda of the British islands. By G. Stewardson Brady.

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Optimisation of a surface mount technology process using a SnAgCu lead-free alloy

The impending introduction of lead-free solder in the manufacture of electrical and electronic products has presented the electronics industry with many challenges. European manufacturers must transfer from a tin-lead process to a lead-free process by July 2006 as a result of the publication of two directives from the European Parliament. Tin-lead solders have been used for mechanical and electrical connections on printed circuit boards for over fifty years and considerable process knowledge has been accumulated. Extensive literature reviews were conducted on the topic and as a result it was found there are many implications to be considered with the introduction of lead-free solder. One particular question that requires answering is; can lead-free solder be used in existing manufacturing processes? The purpose of this research is to conduct a comparative study of a tin-lead solder and a lead-free solder in two key surface mount technology (SMT) processes. The two SMT processes in question were the stencil printing process and the reflow soldering process. Unreplicated fractional factorial experimental designs were used to carry out the studies. The quality of paste deposition in terms of height and volume were the characteristics of interest in the stencil printing process. The quality of solder joints produced in the reflow soldering experiment was assessed using x-ray and cross sectional analysis. This provided qualitative data that was then uniquely scored and weighted using a method developed during the research. Nested experimental design techniques were then used to analyse the resulting quantitative data. Predictive models were developed that allowed for the optimisation of both processes. Results from both experiments show that solder joints of comparable quality to those produced using tin-lead solder can be produced using lead-free solder in current SMT processes.

Free Medical Information Doctor = Publisher

Today, doctors can be publishers – computer technology and the internet make it possible, and book projects are tempting in terms of money. A doctor who publishes his own textbooks can earn many times what he would be paid in royalties by a publishing house. More important than this, however, is the fact that a doctor who writes and publishes wants his texts to be read by as many colleagues, students and patients as possible. The best way to achieve this is through free parallel publication of these texts on the internet

Experimental investigation of heat transfer characteristics from arrays of free impinging circular jets and hole channels

Free Tube Jet - Impingemenet - Heat Transfer - Arrary - Infrared Techuique - Hole Channels - Heat Transfer Uniformaty

Free-standing smectic liquid crystal elastomer films

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Naturwiss., Diss., 2010

Comparative morphology of the tongue in free-tailed bats (Chiroptera, Molossidae)

Descriptive and comparative studies on tongue of nineteen Molossidae, one Mystacinidae, and four Vespertilionidae bats species were carried out. Analysis was restricted to the external morphology, covering general shape of the tongue and its papillae. Types of papillae and their distribution presented considerable intergeneric variation, considering the strictly insectivorous feeding habits of these bats. Distribution of the data of tongue morphology is analyzed and compared with the phylogenetic schemes proposed previously and comments about evolutionary relationships among taxa were done.

The unbounded dead-end depth propertie is not a group invariant

Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt

Examples of retracts in a free group that are not the fixed subgroup of any group of automorphisms

Let F be a free group of rank at least three. We show that some retracts of F previously studied by Martino-Ventura are not equal to the fixed subgroup of any group of automorphisms of F. This shows that, in F, there exist subgroups that are equal to the fixed subgroup of some set of endomorphisms but are not equal to the fixed subgroup of any set of automorphisms. Moreover, we determine the Galois monoids of these retracts, where, by the Galois monoid of a subgroup H of F, we mean the monoid consisting of all endomorphisms of F that fix H.