Influence of Environmental Exposure to Steel Waste on Endocrine Dysregulation and Gene Polymorphisms.

Objective: To evaluate the association between environmental exposure to the following chemical substances: cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), benzene (BZN), and toluene (TLN), and Period Circadian Regulator 3 () gene variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphisms, according to chronotype in a population living in a steel residue-contaminated area.

Methods: This assessment comprises a study conducted from 2017 to 2019 with 159 participants who completed health, work, and Pittsburgh sleep scale questionnaires. Cd, Pb, Ni, Mn, BZN, and TLN concentrations in blood and urine were determined by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GFAAS) and Headspace Gas Chromatography (GC), and genotyping was carried out using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

Cryopreservation of Piau-Breed Wild Boar Sperm: Assessment of Cooling Curves and Centrifugation Regimes.

This study aimed to assess the effects of different cooling curves and centrifugation regimes used in cryopreservation protocols on the post-thaw viability of Piau-breed wild boar (Sus scrofa) sperm using in vitro assessment tests. Two centrifugations (800 g for 10 min and 2400 g for 3 min) and two cooling curves (conventional cooling using nitrogen vapour - freezing 1 and automated cooling using a programmed freezing machine - freezing 2) were tested. Therefore, the treatments were divided into M3 - centrifugation at 2400 g for 3 min and freezing 2; M10 - centrifugation at 800 g for 10 min and freezing 2; R3 - centrifugation at 2400 g for 3 min and freezing 1; and R10 - centrifugation at 800 g for 10 min and freezing 1.

ARTHROSCOPIC TREATMENT OF ELBOW STIFFNESS.

Unlabelled: To present the arthroscopic surgical technique and the evaluation of the results from this technique for treating elbow stiffness.

Methods: Between April 2007 and January 2010, ten elbows of ten patients with elbow stiffness underwent arthroscopic treatment to release the range of motion. The minimum follow-up was 11 months, with an average of 27 months.

SURFACE ARTHROPLASTY FOR TREATING PRIMARY AND/OR SECONDARY SHOULDER OSTEOARTHROSIS BY MEANS OF THE HEMICAP-ARTHROSURFACE(®) SYSTEM.

Objective: To present the surgical technique for the He-miCAP-Arthrosurface(®) system and evaluate our results from this technique for treating primary and/or secondary shoulder osteoarthrosis.

Method: Between June 2007 and June 2009, 10 shoulders of 10 patients (nine with primary osteoarthrosis and one with avascular necrosis of the humeral head) underwent surface arthroplasty using the HemiCAP-Arthrosurface(®) system to correct the problem. The follow-up time ranged from six to 29 months (mean of 17 months).

Azolla-Anabaena's behaviour in urban wastewater and artificial media--influence of combined nitrogen.

The results of using the nitrogen fixing symbiotic system Azolla-Anabaena to improve the quality of treated urban wastewater, particularly on what concerns phosphorus removal efficiencies (40-65%), obtained in continuous assays performed during the past few years and presented earlier, were very promising. Nevertheless, the presence of combined nitrogen in some wastewaters can compromise the treatment efficiency. The main goal of this work was to compare plants behaviour in wastewater and in mineral media with and without added nitrogen.