Development of a Low-Power Underwater NFC-Enabled Sensor Device for Seaweed Monitoring.

Aquaculture farming faces challenges to increase production while maintaining welfare of livestock, efficiently use of resources, and being environmentally sustainable. To help overcome these challenges, remote and real-time monitoring of the environmental and biological conditions of the aquaculture site is highly important. Multiple remote monitoring solutions for investigating the growth of seaweed are available, but no integrated solution that monitors different biotic and abiotic factors exists. A new integrated multi-sensing system would reduce the cost and time required to deploy the system and provide useful information on the dynamic forces affecting the plants and the associated biomass of the harvest. In this work, we present the development of a novel miniature low-power NFC-enabled data acquisition system to monitor seaweed growth parameters in an aquaculture context. It logs temperature, light intensity, depth, and motion, and these data can be transmitted or downloaded to enable informed decision making for the seaweed farmers. The device is fully customisable and designed to be attached to seaweed or associated mooring lines. The developed system was characterised in laboratory settings to validate and calibrate the embedded sensors. It performs comparably to commercial environmental sensors, enabling the use of the device to be deployed in commercial and research settings.

A new class of homoserine lactone quorum-sensing signals.

Quorum sensing is a term used to describe cell-to-cell communication that allows cell-density-dependent gene expression. Many bacteria use acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL) synthases to generate fatty acyl-HSL quorum-sensing signals, which function with signal receptors to control expression of specific genes. The fatty acyl group is derived from fatty acid biosynthesis and provides signal specificity, but the variety of signals is limited. Here we show that the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris uses an acyl-HSL synthase to produce p-coumaroyl-HSL by using environmental p-coumaric acid rather than fatty acids from cellular pools. The bacterium has a signal receptor with homology to fatty acyl-HSL receptors that responds to p-coumaroyl-HSL to regulate global gene expression. We also found that p-coumaroyl-HSL is made by other bacteria including Bradyrhizobium sp. and Silicibacter pomeroyi. This discovery extends the range of possibilities for acyl-HSL quorum sensing and raises fundamental questions about quorum sensing within the context of environmental signalling.

Complete genome sequence of the metabolically versatile photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris.

Rhodopseudomonas palustris is among the most metabolically versatile bacteria known. It uses light, inorganic compounds, or organic compounds, for energy. It acquires carbon from many types of green plant-derived compounds or by carbon dioxide fixation, and it fixes nitrogen. Here we describe the genome sequence of R. palustris, which consists of a 5,459,213-base-pair (bp) circular chromosome with 4,836 predicted genes and a plasmid of 8,427 bp. The sequence reveals genes that confer a remarkably large number of options within a given type of metabolism, including three nitrogenases, five benzene ring cleavage pathways and four light harvesting 2 systems. R. palustris encodes 63 signal transduction histidine kinases and 79 response regulator receiver domains. Almost 15% of the genome is devoted to transport. This genome sequence is a starting point to use R. palustris as a model to explore how organisms integrate metabolic modules in response to environmental perturbations.

BadM is a transcriptional repressor and one of three regulators that control benzoyl coenzyme A reductase gene expression in Rhodopseudomonas palustris.

The rate-limiting enzyme of anaerobic benzoate degradation by Rhodopseudomonas palustris, benzoyl coenzyme A (CoA) reductase, is highly sensitive to oxygen, and its synthesis is tightly regulated. We determined that a previously unknown gene in the benzoate gene cluster, badM, encodes a transcriptional repressor of benzoyl-CoA reductase gene expression. BadM controls gene expression from the benzoyl-CoA reductase promoter in concert with two previously described transcriptional activators.

Aplicação prática da dilatação fluxo-mediada da artéria braquial em Ginecologia e Obstetrícia / Practical applications of flow-mediated dilatation of brachial artery in Gynecology and Obstetrics

Devido à facilidade de aplicação da dilatação fluxo-mediada da artéria braquial (FMD) como método de avaliação da função endotelial, seu uso foi difundido naturalmente. Contudo, a técnica correta, as limitações e sua reprodutibilidade devem ser determinados até que seu uso seja liberado com segurança para a prática clínica. Estudos demonstram que gestantes portadoras de pré-eclâmpsia apresentam menor valor de FMD em relação às pacientes normotensas, podendo essa medida ser usada inclusive como preditor da doença. Da mesma forma, as que possuem Diabetes Gestacional (DG) apresentam valores de FMD menores que gestantes normoglicêmicas; porém, um rígido controle glicêmico por insulinoterapia ou dieta melhora significativamente esses valores. Além disso, a terapia de reposição hormonal está relacionada à melhora nos níveis de FMD. O objetivo deste estudo é realizar uma revisão bibliográfica sobre utilização FMD em Ginecologia e Obstetrícia. Este trabalho foi baseado em levantamento bibliográfico no Medline, de trabalhos publicados entre 2002 e 2009, além de estudos e textos clássicos que abordam o tema. Podemos concluir que a dilatação fluxo-mediada da artéria braquial é um exame de grande valor para a propedêutica e acompanhamento da função endotelial. Apesar das dificuldades técnicas e da falta de padronização ainda existentes, não há motivo para que esse método não seja bem aceito na prática clínica.

Due to the facility of application the flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery (FMD) as assessment method of the endothelial function, its use has been naturally widespread. However, the correct technique, limitations and its reproducibility must be determined until its use be liberated with security for the clinical practice. Studies showed that pregnant women with pre-eclampsia present lower values of FMD in comparison to normotensive patients and this measure can also be used as predictor of the illness. Similarly, women with gestational diabetes (GD) present values of FMD lower than normoglicemic pregnant women. However, a strict glycemic control by insulin therapy or diet, improve significantly these values. Moreover, the hormone replacement therapy is related to improvements in the levels of FMD. The objective of this study was to perform a literature review on the applications of flow-mediated dilatation of Brachial Artery in Gynecology and Obstetrics. The paper was based on a search on Medline/PubMed databases of papers published between 2002 and 2009, as well as studies and classical texts on this subject. We can conclude that the flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery is a valuable exam for the assessment and management of endothelial function. Despite the existing technical difficulties and absence of standardization, there is no reason that hinders this method of being well accepted in the clinical practice.

Methylobacterium populi sp. nov., a novel aerobic, pink-pigmented, facultatively methylotrophic, methane-utilizing bacterium isolated from poplar trees (Populus deltoides x nigra DN34).

A pink-pigmented, aerobic, facultatively methylotrophic bacterium, strain BJ001T, was isolated from internal poplar tissues (Populus deltoidesxnigra DN34) and identified as a member of the genus Methylobacterium. Phylogenetic analyses showed that strain BJ001T is related to Methylobacterium thiocyanatum, Methylobacterium extorquens, Methylobacterium zatmanii and Methylobacterium rhodesianum. However, strain BJ001T differed from these species in its carbon-source utilization pattern, particularly its use of methane as the sole source of carbon and energy, an ability that is shared with only one other member of the genus, Methylobacterium organophilum. In addition, strain BJ001T is the only member of the genus Methylobacterium to be described as an endophyte of poplar trees. On the basis of its physiological, genotypic and ecological properties, the isolate is proposed as a member of a novel species of the genus Methylobacterium, Methylobacterium populi sp. nov. (type strain, BJ001T=ATCC BAA-705T=NCIMB 13946T).