Contested dominance modifies the anovulatory consequences of social subordination in female marmosets

Dominance status among female marmosets is reflected in agonistic behavior and ovarian function. Socially dominant females receive submissive behavior from subordinates, while exhibiting normal ovulatory function. Subordinate females, however, receive agonistic behavior from dominants, while exhibiting reduced or absent ovulatory function. Such disparity in female fertility is not absolute, and groups with two breeding females have been described. The data reported here were obtained from 8 female-female pairs of captive female marmosets, each housed with a single unrelated male. Pairs were classified into two groups: “uncontested” dominance (UD) and “contested” dominance (CD), with 4 pairs each. Dominant females in UD pairs showed significantly higher frequencies (4.1) of agonism (piloerection, attack and chasing) than their subordinates (0.36), and agonistic behaviors were overall more frequently displayed by CD than by UD pairs. Subordinates in CD pairs exhibited more agonistic behavior (2.9) than subordinates in UD pairs (0.36), which displayed significantly more submissive (6.97) behaviors than their dominants (0.35). The data suggest that there is more than one kind of dominance relationship between female common marmosets. Assessment of progesterone levels showed that while subordinates in UD pairs appeared to be anovulatory, the degree of ovulatory disruption in subordinates of CD pairs was more varied and less complete. We suggest that such variation in female-female social dominance relationships and the associated variation in the degree and reliability of fertility suppression may explain variations of the reproductive condition of free-living groups of common marmosets

Estudo comparativo de dois tipos de cultivo: monocultivo (camarões) versus cultivo integrado (algas/camarões)

The integrated culture of seaweed and aquatic animals is an ancient practice in Asian countries. The expansion of this practice to western countries is consequence of the recognition of this system as a sustainable alternative that allows economical diversification and mitigation of environmental impacts generated by effluents of aquaculture. This study evaluated the growth of the seaweed Gracilaria caudata and of the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei in monoculture (shrimps) and integrated culture (shrimps and algae) systems, and accessed the effect of the seaweed in the water quality. There were two treatments in the experiment: monoculture (shrimps) and integrated culture (shrimps/ algae). The organisms were cultured in 6 aquaria (10L) filled with seawater (35.0±0.0 PSU and 28.1±0.4°C) for 28 days. The nutrients of water (PO43-, NH4+, NO2-, NO3- and DIN), the biomass and the relative growth rate (RGR, % day-1) of seaweed and shrimps were measured weekly. The parameters pH, temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen were measured daily. The concentration of NH4+ in integrated culture (62.8±25.2µM) was lower (Mann-Whitney p<0.001) than in monoculture (85.6±24.3µM). The mean of PO4- in monoculture (10.4±4.6µM) was markedly higher (Mann-Whitney; p=0.024) than that in integrated culture (8.7±4.1µM). The level of dissolved oxygen in integrated culture (6.0±0.6mg/L) was higher (t-Student; P=0.014) than that in shrimp monoculture (5.8±0.6mg/L). The mean values of the parameters pH, NO2-, NO3- and DIN were 7.5±0.2, 10.1±12.2µM, 24.5±3.2µM and 120.17±30.76µM in monoculture, and 7.5±0.2, 10.5±13.2µM, 27.4±3.5µM and 100.76±49.59µM in integrated culture. There were not differences in these parameters between treatments. The biomass and RGR of seaweed reached 15.0±1.9g and 7.4±2.8% day-1 at the end of the experiment. The performance of shrimp was favorable in monoculture (1.5±0.8g; 5.7±1.6% dia-1) and in integrated culture (1.5±0.7g; 5.2±1.2% dia-1), and the rate of survival was 100% in both treatments. The tolerance and favorable performance of Gracilaria caudata suggest that this seaweed might be integrated into shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) culture systems

Avaliação ecotoxicológica de efluentes industriais utilizando Danio rerio Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822 (TELEOSTEI, CYPRINIDAE)

The industrial effluents are one of the main sources of water pollution. For an appropriate characterization and control of their discharges, the most efficient strategy is the integrated use of chemical, physical and ecotoxicological analyses. The aims of this study were to asses the efficiency of the treatment plant of a textile industry performing acute toxicity tests and physical-chemical analyses of the effluents before and after the treatment, besides evaluate the toxicity of the effluents of the Treatment System of Liquids Effluents (Sistema de Tratamento de Efluentes Líquidos - SITEL) of Distrito Industrial de Natal (DIN) and some of their physical-chemical variables. The species used in the ecotoxicological tests was the fish Danio rerio. The results showed that the treatment plant reduced significantly (around 50%) the toxicity of the raw textile effluent in only three of the seven tests but, in general, it promoted the reduction of the physical-chemical parameters analyzed. The toxicity and the physical-chemical factors of the effluents of SITEL of DIN varied among the tests and show the importance of monitoring their discharges in the Potengi river, one of the most important rivers of the Rio Grande do Norte state

Viabilidade do processo de enfermagem no contexto hospitalar

The Nursing Process (NP) is considered as the dynamics of the systemized and inter-related actions of human care. We believe that the nursing manager, as the representative of all the nursing care provided in the hospital setting, is an important agent for the implementation of institutional policies, such as the NP, in the service. However, there is little information in the literature about the NP in the perspective of the nurse manager. The objective of this study was to analyze the viability of the Nursing Process in the hospital context based on the attitudes of the nurse managers toward the Process. We conducted a descriptive-exploratory research study, of quantitative approach, with a population of 45 nurse managers that worked in the state hospitals located in Natal, RN and in the university hospitals of the UFRN. Two instruments were used for the collection of data: a nursing process questionnaire, constructed for use in this study, and the scale for the measurement of the attitudes titled Positions on the Nursing Process. The population is predominantly feminine (91,0%) and have relative nursing practice experience (Mean=17,6 years). However, they have little experience in management (Mean=8,6 years). They express little knowledge of the PE nursing terms and little experience with the Process. They have a positive atitude toward the NP (Mean = 110,9); are favorable to its developement in the service (86,7%); 48,9% indicated little possibility of institutionalization in the service and 37,8% indicated large possibility. The Spearman test for association between the variables of attitude about the NP and the possibility of its institutionalization demonstrated a weak negative association in the total individual scores of the attitudes (-,316) as in the 20 itens of the instrument, with coefficients varying from 0,014 to 0,464. Factorial analysis of the instrument identified three underlying factors to the attitudes of the managers in this study: relevance, operationalization and collaboration, with Cronbach Alpha coeficients of 0,955, 0,844 and 0,807, respectively, and 0,956 for the whole instrument, indicating that the scale and its factorial subscales have internal consistency. We conclude that there is a weak tendency for the managers with a favorable attitude to have a negative perception about the possibility of institutionalization of the NP in the service. The favorable position does not appear to be sufficient for the viability of this methodology in the hospital sector, results that is worrisome for nursing. This situation suggests that the difficulties with the institution of the NP in the hospitals may be related to other factors, including the organizational conditions. We believe that the institucionalization of the NP in a servisse where it is not known and not practiced, constitutes the introduction of an innovative work technology that involves many demands, among them the adherence of the persons to the proposed innovation. This demands time and the institutional adjustments and the human resources necessary. In this process, the involvement of the health professional of the institution is necessary. This situation brings to light the discussions of professional autonomy, the action limits and perspectives, the redefinition of roles, delimiation (or consensus) of the objects of study and of the work processes, among others.

Caracterização do efluente líquido no processo de beneficiamento do índigo têxtil

The great diversity of the textile industries activities causes the formation of wastewaters with high complex characteristics during the productive process, according to the industrial process used. The principal aim of the present work is the characterization of the wastewater from the textile industry that process the indigo, located in the Industrial District of Natal-RN, to know the contaminante load of each stage of the process and the framing of the wastewater with the standards of act of receiving of the System of Treatment of Wastewater of the Industrial District of Natal-RN SITEL-DIN, operated for the Company of Waters and Sewers of the RN CAERN. It was analyzed the following properties and pollutants agents: temperature; pH; alcalinity; color; COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand); total and suspended solids; heavy metals, thermotolerants coliformes, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and electrical conductivity. As conclusion it is distinguished that the wastewater did not get resulted satisfactory, according to comparisons with other sources, in only three parameters: turbidity, dissolved oxygen and electrical conductivity, however none of these parameters is criteria of acts of receiving of the SITEL-DIN,therefore the wastewater if finds inside of normality. After the analysis of the obtained results it was verified that SITEL-DIN is indispensable for completing the wastewater treatment

Outra leitura do "outro lado":o espaço da Zona Norte em questão

It analyzes the production of the space of the North Zone of Natal/RN, of the beginning of its formation - decade of 1970 - a present time, under the optics of the urban planning and of the administration of the territory. Inside of that path, it examines the interests that orientated the "creation" of the referred space, as support to the process of urban planning and of administration of the territory; as well as the recent processes that evidence a new partner-space dynamics, which is configured, now as an incipient insert of the North Zone to the context natalense urban-space, now as a "reedition" of its report process of partner-space segregation. It stands out that, while in the beginning of the formation of the North Zone, the State was made the main actor, making possible the expansion of the capital in the north sense of the city of Natal, through the implantation of the Industrial District of Natal (DIN) and of the expansion of the habitational politics of the House of Financial System (SFH); at the present time, the new space processes are configured through the economical inclination, through expansion of the tertiary section in the city of Natal. It is based in bibliography regarding the theme in focus, in primary and secondary sources, as well as in processes and forms that were unchained in the North Zone along the research. It analyzes the North Zone then in its group, the one that makes possible apprehend the inherent conflicts to the process of production-appropriation of the urban space, for the several social actors - the State, the capital and the society - that dispute the control of the production of the space according themselves their interests