A previous study detected mixing of two deeply split mtDNA clades (Clade I and Clade II) for Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the medusozoan Pelagia noctiluca. The north hemisphere glaciations and the Messinian salinity crisis have been proposed as the two main biogeographic events related to the isolation between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. We tested if the splitting time between Clade I and Clade II of P. noctiluca was associated with one of these geological events. Our study was based on DNA sequence data of mitochondrial (COI and 16S ribosomal RNA) and nuclear (18S ribosomal RNA, internal transcribed spacer 1 and 5.8S ribosomal RNA) genes from populations of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The rise of the Isthmus of Panama was used to calibrate substitution rates for COI. This calibration was based on the detection of a shallow but significant genetic structure between P. noctiluca populations from the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. Considering our calibration for COI, we refute a possible origin of Clades I and II during the Messinian salinity crisis. Our estimates suggest the origin for a putative common ancestor of Clades I and II around 2.57 Ma (with 95% 2.91–2.22 HPD), roughly corresponding to the Gelasian stage of the early Pleistocene. These alterations include changes in the sea level and oceanic currents at the Strait of Gibraltar and other regions of the Mediterranean basin, and could explain the origin of the two P. noctiluca clades.

With respect to De Dreu and Gross's article, we comment on the psychological functions for attack and defense, focusing on associations between individual differences in psychopathic personality traits and the behavioral patterns observed in attack-defense conflicts. We highlight the dimensional nature of psychopathy and formulate hypothetical associations between distinct traits, their different behavioral outcomes, and associated brain mechanisms.

The maximisation of control power is considered for an aircraft with multiple control surfaces, with the force and moment coefficients specified by polynomials of the control surface deflections of degree two. The optimal deflections, which maximise and minimise any force or moment coefficient, are determined subject to constraints on the range of deflection of each control surface. The results are applied to a flying wing configuration to determine: (i/ii) the pitch trim, at the lowest drag for the fastest climb, and at the highest drag for the steepest descent; (iii) the maximum and minimum pitching moment; (iv) the maximum and minimum yaw control power and the fraction needed to compensate an outboard engine failure for several propulsion configurations; (v) the maximum and minimum rolling moment. The optimal use of all control surfaces has significant advantages over using just one, e.g. the range of drag modulation with pitch trim is much wider and the maximum and minimum available control moments larger.

Consumption of certain berries appears to slow postprandial glucose absorption, attributable to polyphenols, which may benefit exercise and cognition, reduce appetite and/or oxidative stress. This randomised, crossover, placebo-controlled study determined whether polyphenol-rich fruits added to carbohydrate-based foods produce a dose-dependent moderation of postprandial glycaemic, glucoregulatory hormone, appetite and ex vivo oxidative stress responses. Twenty participants (eighteen males/two females; 24 (sd 5) years; BMI: 27 (sd 3) kg/m2) consumed one of five cereal bars (approximately 88 % carbohydrate) containing no fruit ingredients (reference), freeze-dried black raspberries (10 or 20 % total weight; LOW-Rasp and HIGH-Rasp, respectively) and cranberry extract (0·5 or 1 % total weight; LOW-Cran and HIGH-Cran), on trials separated by ≥5 d. Postprandial peak/nadir from baseline (Δmax) and incremental postprandial AUC over 60 and 180 min for glucose and other biochemistries were measured to examine the dose-dependent effects. Glucose AUC0–180 min trended towards being higher (43 %) after HIGH-Rasp v. LOW-Rasp (P=0·06), with no glucose differences between the raspberry and reference bars. Relative to reference, HIGH-Rasp resulted in a 17 % lower Δmax insulin, 3 % lower C-peptide (AUC0–60 min and 3 % lower glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (AUC0–180 min) P<0·05. No treatment effects were observed for the cranberry bars regarding glucose and glucoregulatory hormones, nor were there any treatment effects for either berry type regarding ex vivo oxidation, appetite-mediating hormones or appetite. Fortification with freeze-dried black raspberries (approximately 25 g, containing 1·2 g of polyphenols) seems to slightly improve the glucoregulatory hormone and glycaemic responses to a high-carbohydrate food item in young adults but did not affect appetite or oxidative stress responses at doses or with methods studied herein.

Bismuth triiodide (BiI3) has been studied aiming the development of lead-free photovoltaic materials. It can also be used as X-ray detectors due to the high density of its elements (bismuth and iodine). We investigate the mechanical stress, hardness, and elastic properties of BiI3 thin films deposited by thermal evaporation. The stress was determined by the bending beam technique using the Stoney equation. The films are tensile with stress of approximately 27 MPa. The hardness and the elastic modulus were determined by nanoindentation technique using a Berkovich diamond tip. The hardness of the films is approximately 0.8 GPa and the reduced Young´s modulus is ∼28 GPa for maximum penetration depth of 10% of the film thickness.

Reducing the risk of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission is still a public health priority. The development of effective control strategies relies on the quantification of the effects of prophylactic and therapeutic measures in disease incidence. Although several assays can be used to estimate HIV incidence, these estimates are limited by the poor performance of these assays in distinguishing recent from long-standing infections. To address such limitation, we have developed an assay to titrate p24-specific IgG3 antibodies as a marker of recent infection. The assay is based on a recombinant p24 protein capable to detect total IgG antibodies in sera using a liquid micro array and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Subsequently, the assay was optimised to detect and titrate anti-p24 IgG3 responses in a panel of sequential specimens from seroconverters over 24 months. The kinetics of p24-specific IgG3 titres revealed a transient peak in the 4 to 5-month period after seroconversion. It was followed by a sharp decline, allowing infections with less than 6 months to be distinguished from older ones. The developed assay exhibited a mean duration of recent infection of 144 days and a false-recent rate of ca. 14%. Our findings show that HIV-1 p24-specific IgG3 titres can be used as a tool to evaluate HIV incidence in serosurveys and to monitor the efficacy of vaccines and other transmission control strategies.

Globally, the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) disease is higher in males. This study examined the effect of sex and age on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. Demographic and exposure data were collected on household contacts of sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB patients in Brazil. Contacts with tuberculin skin test induration ⩾10 mm at baseline or 12 weeks were considered Mtb infected. The study enrolled 917 household contacts from 160 households; 508 (55.4%) were female, median age was 21.0 years (range 0.30–87.0) and 609 (66.4%) had Mtb infection. The proportion infected increased with age from 63.3% in girls <5 years to 75.4% in women ⩾40 years and from 44.9% in boys <5 years to 73.6% in men ⩾40 years. Multivariable modelling showed the odds of infection increased between age 5 and 14 years among female contacts (OR 1.5 per 5-year age increase; 95% CI 1.1–2.2; P = 0.02) and between ages 0–4 and 15–39 years among male contacts (OR 2.7, 95% CI 0.83–8.9 and 1.1, 95% CI 0.99–1.3 per 5-year age increase; P = 0.10, 0.07, respectively). The study suggests that the age at which Mtb infection increases most is different in females compared with males. Studies are needed to explore whether these findings are due to differences in host susceptibility, exposure outside the household or other factors.

Bismuth triiodide (BiI3) is a potential candidate for application in solar cell due to its good optoelectronic properties and because it is free of toxic elements. It can be used as the absorber material in solar cells or converted into the perovskite-like material MA3Bi2I9, suitable also for photovoltaic applications. Bismuth triiodide has been prepared by physical vapour transport (PVT) and by solution process through spin coating. In this work we present optical and structural/topological properties of BiI3 deposited by thermal evaporation under high vacuum. The films are slightly tensile, polycrystalline, homogenously distributed and with good adherence on several substrates, with an indirect bandgap of 1.81 eV, index of refraction of 3.3 (630 nm), photoluminescence centered at 1.74 eV and a Raman peak at 118cm-1 associated with the Ag mode.

Organolead iodide perovskites, CH3NH3PbI3, have attracted the attention of researchers around the world due to their optical and electrical properties. Their main characteristics include, direct band-gap (1.4 to 3.0 eV), large absorption coefficient in the visible spectrum, long carrier diffusion length and ambipolar charge transport. Aside that, perovskite thin films can be produced with low cost and are compatible with large-scale manufacture. Perovskite thin films have been synthesized mainly by spin-coating technique and thermal evaporation, which can be executed in one or two steps. Aiming to increase the light absorption, nanostructured perovskite thin films are also under intense study, since the nanostructures can absorb more light than a flat film. Thus, in this work, we reported the synthesis of perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) nanorods by means of conversion of lead sulphide quantum dots (PbSQD). The perovskite nanorods were grown by exposing the PbSQD to a highly concentrated iodine atmosphere and then dipping the resulting film in methylammonium iodide (CH3NH3I) solution. The first step converts completely the PbSQD into lead iodide (PbI2) nanowires, ≈50 µm long and ≈200 nm diameter, through substitution of sulphur by iodine atoms and subsequent aggregation of the particles. The later step converts the PbI2 nanowires in perovskite nonorods (≈5 µm long and ≈400 nm diameter). The perovskite nanorods present a regular geometry along all its length. A preferential alignment of nanorods to the substrate plane was observed. The preliminary results show that we can control the size of nanorods through exposition time of PbSQD to iodine, which change the size of PbI2 nanowire as well. The conversion process was studied by x-ray diffraction, optical absorption, photoluminescence and scanning electron microscopy.

Acinetobacter spp. are important healthcare pathogens, being closely linked to antibiotic resistance and outbreaks worldwide. Although such species are rarely observed in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), we describe the characteristics of 53 strains of Acinetobacter spp. isolated from the sputum of 39 Brazilian patients with CF. The species distribution was A. baumannii (n = 29), A. pittii (n = 13), A. nosocomialis (n = 8), A. seifertii (n = 1), A. soli (n = 1) and A. variabilis (n = 1) determined by partial rpoB gene sequencing. Sixteen strains (10 A. baumannii, 3 A. pittii and 3 A. nosocomialis) were multidrug-resistant (MDR) by disk diffusion test (30%) and eight MDR carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii strains harboured the bla OXA-23-like oxacillinase gene. Thirty-three sequence types (STs) were identified by multilocus sequence typing of which eight were novel (A. baumannii: 843, 844, 845, 847, 848; A. pitti: 643; A. nosocomialis: 862 and A. seifertii: 846); six STs (2 A. baumannii, 3 A. pittii and 1 A. nosocomialis) were found in more than one patient. Four strains of A. baumannii were assigned to two common clonal complexes (CCs), namely, CC1 (ST1, ST20 and ST160), and CC79 (ST79). This study underlines the extensive species diversity of Acinetobacter spp. strains in CF lung infections which may present difficulties for therapy due to significant antimicrobial resistance.

This study assessed the incidence and risk factors for dengue virus (DENV) infection among children in a prospective birth cohort conducted in the city of Recife, a hyperendemic dengue area in Northeast Brazil. Healthy pregnant women (n = 415) residing in Recife who agreed to have their children followed were enrolled. Children were followed during their first 24 months of age (May/2011–June/2014), before the 2015 Zika virus outbreak. DENV infection was detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and/or serology (anti-DENV IgM/IgG). The incidence rates per 1000 person-years (py) and its association with risk factors by age bands (0–12, >12–30 months) were estimated through Poisson regression models. Forty-nine dengue infections were detected; none progressed to severe forms. The incidence rates were 107·6/1000py (95% CI 76·8–150·6) and 93·3/1000py (95% CI 56·1–154·4) in the first and second years of age, respectively. Male children (risk ratios (RR) = 2·33; 95% CI 1·09–4·98) and those born to DENV-naïve mothers (RR = 2·42; 95% CI 1·01–5·80) were at greater risk of infection in the first year of age. In the second year, children born to Caucasian/Asian descent skin colour mothers had a threefold higher risk of infection (RR = 3·34; 95% CI: 1·08–10·33). These data show the high exposure of children to DENV infection in our setting and highlight the role of biological factors in this population's susceptibility to infection.

The probabilistic Rasch model is used to get objective measures of production potential at some locations of an olive orchard located in Badajoz, southwestern Spain. Nine soil properties (soil apparent electrical conductivity, clay, sand, and silt content, organic matter, total nitrogen, available phosphorous and potassium, and cation exchange capacity), taken at 40 locations in the field, were considered and, after being integrated in the model, a ranking of all locations according to the soil production potential and the influence on the production potential of each individual soil property were determined. Moreover, those soil samples or properties which had any anomaly where highlighted; this information can be necessary to conduct site-specific treatments, leading to a more cost-effective and sustainable field management. Additionally, estimates using geostatistical algorithms were utilised to map soil production potential and to delineate with a rational basis the management zones in the field.

This experiment evaluated production and health parameters among cattle offered concentrates containing inorganic or organic complexed sources of supplemental Cu, Co, Mn and Zn during a 45-day preconditioning period. In total, 90 Angus×Hereford calves were weaned at 7 months (day −1), sorted by sex, weaning BW and age (261±2 kg; 224±2 days), and allocated to 18 drylot pens (one heifer and four steers per pen) on day 0; thus, all pens had equivalent initial BW and age. Pens were randomly assigned to receive a corn-based preconditioning concentrate containing: (1) Cu, Co, Mn and Zn sulfate sources (INR), (2) Cu, Mn, Co and Zn complexed organic source (AAC) or (3) no Cu, Co, Mn and Zn supplementation (CON). From day 0 to 45, cattle received concentrate treatments (2.7 kg/animal daily, as-fed basis) and had free-choice access to orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), long-stem hay and water. The INR and AAC treatments were formulated to provide the same daily amount of Co, Cu, Mn and Zn at a 50-, 16-, 8- and ninefold increase, respectively, compared with the CON treatment. On day 46, cattle were transported to a commercial feedlot, maintained as a single pen, and offered a free-choice receiving diet until day 103. Calf full BW was recorded on days −1 and 0, 45 and 46, and 102 and 103 for average daily gain (ADG) calculation. Liver biopsy was performed on days 0 (used as covariate), 22 and 45. Cattle were vaccinated against respiratory pathogens on days 15, 29 and 46. Blood samples were collected on days 15, 29, 45, 47, 49, 53 and 60. During preconditioning, mean liver concentrations of Co, Zn and Cu were greater (P⩽0.03) in AAC and INR compared with CON. No treatment effects were detected (P⩾0.17) for preconditioning feed intake, ADG or feed efficiency. No treatment effects were detected (P⩾0.48) for plasma concentrations of antibodies against Mannheimia haemolytica, bovine viral diarrhea types 1 and 2 viruses. Plasma haptoglobin concentrations were similar among treatments (P=0.98). Mean plasma cortisol concentration was greater (P⩽0.04) in CON compared with INR and AAC. No treatment effects were detected (P⩾0.37) for cattle ADG during feedlot receiving. Hence, INR and AAC increased liver concentrations of Co, Zn and Cu through preconditioning, but did not impact cattle performance and immunity responses during preconditioning and feedlot receiving.

We show that superlattice (SL) of PbS quantum dots (QD) can be easily prepared by drop casting of colloidal QD solution onto glass substrate and the ordering level can be controlled by the substrate temperature. A QD solution was dropped on glass and dried at 25, 40, 70 and 100°C resulting in formation of different SL structures. X-ray diffractograms (XRD) of deposited films show a set of sharp and intense peaks that are higher order satellites of a unique peak at 1.8 degrees (two theta), which corresponds, using the Bragg’s Law, to an interplanar spacing of 5.3 nm. The mean particles diameter, calculated through the broadening of the (111) peak of PbS using the Scherrer’s formula, were in agreement with the interplanar spacing. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements were also used to study the SL structure, which showed mainly a face centered cubic (FCC) arrangement of the QD. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of QD in the SL showed a shift toward lower energy compared to one in solution. It can be attributed to the fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET) between neighbors QD´s. Moreover, we observed greater redshift of PL peak for film with lower drying temperature, suggesting that it has a more organized structure.

Portugal has one of the highest rates of childhood overweight and obesity in Europe. However, little is known about the health of ethnic minorities living in its capital city, Lisbon. The Cape Verdean community in Lisbon tend to have low educational levels, material deprivation and struggle with discrimination and racism, factors that would probably be associated with a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity. Data for the Cape Verdean population were collected in three different time periods by three different research teams in 1993, 2009 and 2013 and included children aged 6–12 years living in the Cova da Moura neighbourhood of the Greater Lisbon Metro Area. The Portuguese national survey was conducted between 2009 and 2010 at public and private schools in mainland Portugal and included height, weight, skinfolds and arm and waist circumferences. From these survey data body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of stunting (chronic malnutrition – low height-for-age) and underweight (low weight-for-age) were calculated according to reference values proposed by Frisancho (2008). Overweight and obesity prevalence values were defined based on the references established by the International Obesity Task Force. The results show significant differences in height between Cape Verdean and Portuguese boys and girls. Generally, Cape Verdeans’ growth falls within the healthy range of international growth references across all of the survey data collected. Cape Verdean rates for combined overnutrition (overweight and obesity) in 2013 (9.8% for boys and 16.7% for girls) were lower than those of the Portuguese (33% for boys and 31.7% for girls). Logistic regression models showed that Cape Verdean children had a lower risk of being overweight or obese when accounting for breast-feeding, birth weight, maternal education and occupation. Despite living in a deprived neighbourhood these Cape Verdean children seemed to have grown more healthily than Portuguese ancestry children. The challenge for policymakers will be to support improvement of the poverty-related living conditions of this community without creating a risky environment for increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity.