Molecular dissection of laboratory contamination between two schistosome populations.

Background: Genomic analysis has revealed extensive contamination among laboratory-maintained microbes including malaria parasites, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Salmonella spp. Here, we provide direct evidence for recent contamination of a laboratory schistosome parasite population, and we investigate its genomic consequences. The Brazilian Schistosoma mansoni population SmBRE has several distinctive phenotypes, showing poor infectivity, reduced sporocyst number, low levels of cercarial shedding and low virulence in the intermediate snail host, and low worm burden and low fecundity in the vertebrate rodent host.

Impact of Frozen Storage on Sensory, Physicochemical, and Volatile Compounds Parameters of Different Extra Virgin Olive Oils.

Storage is important for virgin olive oil, a product obtained only during the harvest period, which requires a year-round storage until its best-before date. Low temperatures slow undesirable reactions, though this method is not widely applied. The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of frozen storage on the volatile composition and sensory properties of virgin olive oils.

Spatio-temporal variation of the endangered Dupont's Lark diet across Iberia and Morocco.

A species' diet is highly dependent on the availability of food resources in space and time, as well as on intrinsic factors such as sex or age. Accurate assessments of variations in the diet composition of bird populations across spatial scales, seasons and demographic groups are essential not only for understanding the basic ecology of species, but also for the conservation of endangered ones. However, our current knowledge about how birds' diet change according to spatio-temporal variations or intrinsic factors is very limited.

Aquatic macrophytes as a source of antifouling non-toxic against bacterial biofilms and golden mussel attachment: a possible role of quorum-sensing interference.

Biofouling in freshwater and marine environments developed on man-made aquatic surfaces causes significant economic losses. Still, this problem is magnified when it comes to invasive species, such as the golden mussel. One of the alternatives to combat it is the use of antifouling solutions; however, the vast majority focus on solutions for the marine environment.

Key factors influencing magnetic nanoparticle-based photothermal therapy: physicochemical properties, irradiation power, and particle concentration .

A collection of magnetic nanoparticles with average particle sizes in the range between 9 and 78 nm were prepared using several synthetic approaches that also provided different particle morphologies (spherical, octahedral and flowers). Some of these particles were also subsequently coated with different molecules in order to generate a set of materials that allowed us to evaluate the impact that the particle size, shape and coating had on the heating capacity of the nanoparticles when exposed to near infrared (NIR) laser light. Moreover, one of the prepared materials (octahedral particles of ∼32 nm coated with dextran) was used to perform an assay to study the possible use of this material in the frame of photothermal treatments to trigger cell death.