A novel protease produced by Bacillus cereus grown on wool as carbon and nitrogen source was purified. B. cereus protease is a neutral metalloprotease with a molecular mass of 45.6 kDa. The optimum activity was at 45 • C and pH 7.0. The substrate specificity was assessed using oxidized insulin B-chain and synthetic peptide substrates. The cleavage of the insulin B-chain was determined to be Asn 3 , Leu 6 , His 10-Leu 11 , Ala 14 , Glu 21 , after 12 h incubation. Among the peptide substrates, the enzyme did not exhibit activity towards ester substrates; with p-nitroanilide, the kinetic data indicate that aliphatic and aromatic amino acids were the preferred residues at the P 1 position. For furylacryloyl peptides substrates, which are typical substrates for thermolysin, the enzyme exhibited high hydrolytic activity with a K m values of 0.858 and 2.363 mM for N-(3-[2-Furyl]acryloyl)-Ala-Phe amide and N-(3-[2-Furyl]acryloyl)-Gly-Leu amide, respectively. The purified protease hydrolysed proteins substrates such as azocasein, azocoll, keratin azure and wool.

From a screening for the production of new proteases specific for cuticle scales, Beauveria brongniartii was selected producing an alkaline Ca(++) dependent protease. The purified had a molecular weight of 27 kDa and a pI value of 8.0. Substrate specificities of model substrates (wool with partially removed cuticles treated with SDS) were analyzed by protein release, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen analysis. The C/N ratio of released material turned out to be a good parameter to determine the site of action of proteases on fibres. Compared to other enzymes, the fungal protease preferentially hydrolyzed cuticle scales and has thus a potential for anti-shrinking pre-treatment of wool fabrics.

Objectives The aim of this work is to demonstrate the use of a standardized health informatics framework to generate reliable and reproducible real-world evidence from Latin America and South Asia towards characterizing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Global South. Materials and Methods Patient-level COVID-19 records collected in a patient self-reported notification system, hospital in-patient and out-patient records, and community diagnostic labs were harmonized to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership common data model and analyzed using a federated network analytics framework. Clinical characteristics of individuals tested for, diagnosed with or tested positive for, hospitalized with, admitted to intensive care unit with, or dying with COVID-19 were estimated. Results Two COVID-19 databases covering 8.3 million people from Pakistan and 2.6 million people from Bahia, Brazil were analyzed. 109 504 (Pakistan) and 921 (Brazil) medical concepts were harmonized to Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership common data model. In total, 341 505 (4.1%) people in the Pakistan dataset and 1 312 832 (49.2%) people in the Brazilian dataset were tested for COVID-19 between January 1, 2020 and April 20, 2022, with a median [IQR] age of 36 [25, 76] and 38 (27, 50); 40.3% and 56.5% were female in Pakistan and Brazil, respectively. 1.2% percent individuals in the Pakistan dataset had Afghan ethnicity. In Brazil, 52.3% had mixed ethnicity. In agreement with international findings, COVID-19 outcomes were more severe in men, elderly, and those with underlying health conditions. Conclusions COVID-19 data from 2 large countries in the Global South were harmonized and analyzed using a standardized health informatics framework developed by an international community of health informaticians. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates a potential open science framework for global knowledge mobilization and clinical translation for timely response to healthcare needs in pandemics and beyond.

Mulheres têm pouca inserção na área de Computação. Este é um problema não apenas no Brasil, mas também em diferentes países do mundo. A falta de diversidade de gênero em cursos de Computação no ensino superior no Brasil é reportada em diferentes artigos, e isso reflete diretamente no mercado de trabalho. Uma iniciativa que tem levado os estudantes universitários a inserir-se no mercado de trabalho durante a universidade é o movimento de empresas juniores. Neste contexto, este artigo apresenta uma análise da participação feminina na CJR, uma empresa júnior do Departamento de Ciência da Computação da Universidade de Brasília (UnB). Além de descrever ações para aumentar a representativa feminina na empresa, como ação para seleção com tema de princesas e o processo de seleção ser realizado por mulheres. Após essas ações os resultados foram que a parte de liderança da empresa á ocupada por 50% de mulheres e o número de alunas passou de 2% em 2018, para 16% em 2020.