Pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse with microwaves irradiation and its effects on the structure and on enzymatic hydrolysis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Effect of testicular thermoregulation on the quality of buffalo sperm

The process of spermatic division and differentiation (spermatogenesis) occurs with intratesticular temperature lower that the corporal temperature and for that is essential that the testicular thermoregulation mechanism occurs properly. For evaluation of the scrotal surface temperature can be used the infrared thermography or testicular sensors, besides that, can be evaluated the blood flux in the spermatic cord through the Doppler ultrasonography. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the testicular thermoregulation in adult buffaloes through scrotal thermography and Doppler ultrasound of testicular artery and verify its effect on sperm quality. For that were used seven healthy buffaloes, with age of 3 and 4 years, of the Murrah breed. The animals were subjected to 3 semen collections using artificial vagina, with one day of interval. In addiction, the retal temperature measurement (RT) with dry bulb thermometer, the measurement of scrotal surface temperature (SST) and body surface temperature (BST) through infrared thermography and the pulsatility (PI) and resistivity (RI) index of testicular artery by Doppler ultrasonography, were performed using 2 distinct moments: animals previously placed to shade (M1) and animals subjected to 4 hours of sun (M2). All parameters were compared by T test and the correlations were performed by Pearson test using the In Stat Graph Pad 3 (R) program. The significant level considered was 5%. There was an increase (p<0,05) of RT, SST, SNT and RI in M2. increasing trend was observed (0,05>p>0,01) PI and RI between M1 and M2. There was a low correlation between SST and semen quality. The results of this study allow us to conclude that adult buffaloes have low ability to perform body and testicular thermoregulation in situations of enviromental heat stress. However, this low capacity of testicular temperature maintenance demonstrated no correlation with the sperm kinetic parameters and sperm morphological defects in buffalo spermatozoa.

Behavior of Peruvian carrot (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) and cassava (Manihot esculenta) starches subjected to heat-moisture treatment

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

One step forward: contrasting the effects of Toe clipping and PIT tagging on frog survival and recapture probability

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Budding Process During the Organogenesis of the Ventral Prostatic Lobe in Mongolian Gerbil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Crônicas de Graciliano Ramos em Cultura política (1941- 1944): estudo crítico

Pós-graduação em Letras - FCLAS

Condições bacteriológicas da superfície das poltronas hematológicas par hemodiálise

Pós-graduação em Enfermagem (mestrado profissional) - FMB

O uso da voz e do tablet em narrativas de histórias

Introduction: This study is part of some activities developed in a school library in Marília - SP. Objective: To approach the voice pad use in historical narratives. Methodology: The book chosen by the storyteller for this experiment was “A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado” written by Monteiro Lobato, the first Brazilian book to gain an interactive version for the pad device. Results: It was observe in that activity like a digital device excites children, being a new way to interaction with stories. With features enticing and easier to use, the tablets provide the reading levels of dynamism and interactivity so far unthinkable. Conclusions: With the results of this research, it is concluded that audiovisual resources allow interaction and dynamism, providing enthusiasm to the listeners; being a pleasurable and diverse action that enables the professional to use new tools to stimulate the taste to hear and share stories as well as to attend a school library.

Influência do estímulo verbal no tempo do teste de escada

Introduction: The stair-climbing test (SCT) is considered a submaximal test of simple implementation and easy access, which assesses the individual’s functional capacity. Although widely used in surgical patients, there is no standardization regarding the height of the stair and verbal stimulus. Objectives: It was determine if verbal stimulus changes the stair-climbing time (SCt) in individuals over 50 years-old. We compared oxygenation, blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate and Borg scale between SCT performed with and without stimulation. Methods: We evaluated individuals with ages greater than 50 years-old that performed two STC (with and without verbal stimulation), in the stair with 44 steps, achieving 7.04 m in height and recording the time to climb the stair. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP), respiratory rate (RR), pulse, oxygen saturation (SpO2 ) and Borg scale were evaluated before and after the tests. The time in the SCT with and without stimulation were compared using the Student test-t and the other variables were compared using the ANOVA test (p<0.05). Results: The average age was 59.75±6,40 years old in the 21 evaluated individuals. The time in the SCT without stimulus was significantly higher than the one with stimulus. The SBP, pulse, RR and Borg scale were significantly increased when compared to the SCT with and without stimulus. Oxygenation and DBP didn´t have significant differences at any time of the study. Conclusions: The time in the SCT was lower when performed with verbal stimulus. The SBP, pulse, RR and Borg scale changed significantly after the SCT with and without stimulus, remarking that this change was greater in the SCT with stimulus.

Image Re-Ranking Acceleration on GPUs

Huge image collections are becoming available lately. In this scenario, the use of Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) systems has emerged as a promising approach to support image searches. The objective of CBIR systems is to retrieve the most similar images in a collection, given a query image, by taking into account image visual properties such as texture, color, and shape. In these systems, the effectiveness of the retrieval process depends heavily on the accuracy of ranking approaches. Recently, re-ranking approaches have been proposed to improve the effectiveness of CBIR systems by taking into account the relationships among images. The re-ranking approaches consider the relationships among all images in a given dataset. These approaches typically demands a huge amount of computational power, which hampers its use in practical situations. On the other hand, these methods can be massively parallelized. In this paper, we propose to speedup the computation of the RL-Sim algorithm, a recently proposed image re-ranking approach, by using the computational power of Graphics Processing Units (GPU). GPUs are emerging as relatively inexpensive parallel processors that are becoming available on a wide range of computer systems. We address the image re-ranking performance challenges by proposing a parallel solution designed to fit the computational model of GPUs. We conducted an experimental evaluation considering different implementations and devices. Experimental results demonstrate that significant performance gains can be obtained. Our approach achieves speedups of 7x from serial implementation considering the overall algorithm and up to 36x on its core steps.

Flavones from Erythrina falcata are modulators of fear memory

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Influência que o estado de ânimo gerado por exercícios sistematizados e não sistematizados provoca na pressão arterial de idosos normotensos e hipertensos

A hipertensão arterial atinge uma média de 20% a 25% da população brasileira. Estudos apontam que a prática regular de atividade física além de combater o sedentarismo pode ser utilizada como meio não farmacológico de tratamento e prevenção da hipertensão. Objetivo: Verificar os efeitos do estado de ânimo gerado por exercícios não sistematizados e sistematizados na pressão arterial. Metodologia: Participaram do estudo 30 alunas que participam há mais de seis meses do Programa Saúde Ativa Rio Claro. Elas receberam treinamento duas semanas, para utilizarem o aparelho de pressão digital de pulso Fuzzy LOGIC. As participantes foram submetidas a 3 sessões de aulas (aeróbio, lúdico e força) em dias diferentes. As aulas do aeróbio contavam com 40 min de caminhada moderada, a aula de força constou 3 séries de 1 minuto, com intervalo entre as séries de 30 segundos para membros superiores e inferiores e a aula lúdica com brincadeiras não padronizadas. As aulas foram constituídas de alongamento (10 min), parte principal (40 min) e volta à calma (10 min). A pressão arterial sistólica (PAS) e diastólica (PAD) foram aferidas nos momentos: repouso (M1), término (M2), 30 minutos após a sessão (M3), 4 horas após (M4) e 8 horas após a sessão dos exercícios (M5). A análise estatística utilizada foi a Anova para medidas repetidas com 2 fatores (Momentos e Tipo de aula) com significância de p<0.05. Resultados: A PAS no M3 foi menor do que no M1 e M2 para todos os protocolos (p<0.05); para a PAD o M3 apresentou valores menores do que o M1 e M2 para todos os protocolos. Conclusão: O efeito hipotensor teve resultados mais significativos quando relacionado a prática dos exercícios do que aos estados de ânimo gerados pelos mesmos. A prática da atividade física foi capaz de alterar positivamente os estados de ânimo dos indivíduos... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)

Effect of ball milling on the physicochemical characteristics of Peruvian carrot and cassava starches

Peruvian carrot and cassava starches were ground in a ball mill for 4, 8, 16, and 32 h and their structural and physicochemical characteristics were determined. Results obtained from HPAEC-PAD, GPC, and amylose content indicated a breaking of hydrogen bounds and α-(1 [RIGHTWARDS ARROW] 6) linkages of the starch molecules after treatment. X-ray diffractograms showed that the milling provided a reduction in the crystalline area of the starch granules. Most of the starch granules displayed agglomeration after 4 h of milling, when observed under a scanning electron microscope, and after 16 h a shapeless mass was observed for Peruvian carrot starch. Solubility and water absorption capacity of the starches increased with an increase in the milling time, while RVA profiles showed a progressive reduction of peak, breakdown, and final viscosities, as well as the development of initial viscosity. Gelatinization temperatures and enthalpies were reduced. Prolonged ball milling accelerated the enthalpy relaxation in both starches. These results confirmed a partial gelatinization of the starches, which was 82.6% for Peruvian carrot and 65.4% for cassava starches after 32 h of milling. The Peruvian carrot starch was more affected by the ball milling because of both its lower amylose content and the defects in its crystalline structure

Behavior of Peruvian carrot (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) and cassava (Manihot esculenta) starches subjected to the heat-moisture treatment

Peruvian carrot and cassava starches were isolated, adjusted to 30 and 35% moisture, and heatedat 90°C for 8 h. Structural and physicochemical characteristics of the treated starches wereevaluated and compared. High performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsedamperometric detector (HPAEC-PAD), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and amylosecontent, revealed that the HMT did not change the chemical structures of the starches. A largeagglomeration of granules was observed from SEM, particularly in the Peruvian carrot starch.Crystalline patterns in Peruvian carrot and cassava starches changed from B to C and CAto A,respectively. Relative crystallinity decreased from 30 to 25% in Peruvian Carrot starch, andincreased from 35 to 37% in cassava starch adjusted to 30% moisture. SF and peak viscositydecreased, breakdown was almost completely eliminated (particularly in the Peruvian carrotstarch), and final viscosity increased. WAI and WSI increased as moisture levels of bothstarches increased. Gelatinization temperatures increased and enthalpy decreased. Degrees ofgelatinization increased as the moisture level increased, reaching 33 and 72% in the cassavaand Peruvian carrot starches, respectively. HMT strengthened the intra- and intermolecularinteractions of starches and increased their stability during heating and shearing, but also causeda partial gelatinization in the starches, particularly in Peruvian carrot starch.

Phytotoxicity of extracts and fractions of Ouratea spectabilis (Mart. ex Engl.) Engl. (Ochnaceae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)