Electric consumption in SHSs in rural communities of brazil and Peru and recommendations for sizing

The lack of data records of electric power consumption of smallphotovoltaic home systems, independently of the method used for sizing them, drives to consider the demand as a constant. However, the existing data reveal the variability of the consumption due to the influences of some social, cultural and psychosocial aspects of the human groups. This paper presents records of consumption data obtainedfrom several solar home systems (SHSs) in Brazil and Peru, and it discusses about the Gamma distribution function that can express to a great extent the behaviour of the demand. By this analysis it was verified that `a lot of people consume little and few people consume a lot`. In that sense, a few recommendations for sizing procedures that can be useful in the implantation of extensive programmes of rural electrification by SHSs are presented. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cleft lip and palate: recommendations for dental anesthetic procedure based on anatomic evidences

Patients with cleft lip and palate usually present dental anomalies of number, shape, structure and position in the cleft area and the general dentist is frequently asked to restore or extract those teeth. Considering that several anatomic variations are expected in teeth adjacent to cleft areas and that knowledge of these variations by general dentists is required for optimal treatment, the objectives of this paper are: 1) to describe changes in the innervation pattern of anterior teeth and soft tissue caused by the presence of a cleft, 2) to describe a local anesthetic procedure in unilateral and bilateral clefts, and 3) to provide recommendations to improve anesthetic procedures in patients with cleft lip and palate. The cases of 2 patients are presented: one with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate, and the other with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate. The patients underwent local anesthesia in the cleft area in order to extract teeth with poor bone support. The modified anesthetic procedure, respecting the altered course of nerves in the cleft maxilla and soft tissue alterations at the cleft site, was accomplished successfully and the tooth extraction was performed with no pain to the patients. General dentists should be aware of the anatomic variations in nerve courses in the cleft area to offer high quality treatment to patients with cleft lip and palate.

Protein turnover, amino acid requirements and recommendations for athletes and active populations

Skeletal muscle is the major deposit of protein molecules. As for any cell or tissue, total muscle protein reflects a dynamic turnover between net protein synthesis and degradation. Noninvasive and invasive techniques have been applied to determine amino acid catabolism and muscle protein building at rest, during exercise and during the recovery period after a single experiment or training sessions. Stable isotopic tracers (13C-lysine, 15N-glycine, ²H5-phenylalanine) and arteriovenous differences have been used in studies of skeletal muscle and collagen tissues under resting and exercise conditions. There are different fractional synthesis rates in skeletal muscle and tendon tissues, but there is no major difference between collagen and myofibrillar protein synthesis. Strenuous exercise provokes increased proteolysis and decreased protein synthesis, the opposite occurring during the recovery period. Individuals who exercise respond differently when resistance and endurance types of contractions are compared. Endurance exercise induces a greater oxidative capacity (enzymes) compared to resistance exercise, which induces fiber hypertrophy (myofibrils). Nitrogen balance (difference between protein intake and protein degradation) for athletes is usually balanced when the intake of protein reaches 1.2 g·kg-1·day-1 compared to 0.8 g·kg-1·day-1 in resting individuals. Muscular activities promote a cascade of signals leading to the stimulation of eukaryotic initiation of myofibrillar protein synthesis. As suggested in several publications, a bolus of 15-20 g protein (from skimmed milk or whey proteins) and carbohydrate (± 30 g maltodextrine) drinks is needed immediately after stopping exercise to stimulate muscle protein and tendon collagen turnover within 1 h.