Supplementation and therapeutic use of vitamin D in patients with multiple sclerosis: Consensus of the Scientific Department of Neuroimmunology of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology

A esclerose múltipla (EM) é uma doença inflamatória, autoimune, desmielinizante e degenerativa do sistema nervoso central. Estudos epidemiológicos têm identificado associações de hipovitaminose D com doenças autoimunes. O principal objetivo desta revisão é responder se há evidências que indiquem o uso terapêutico de vitamina D em monoterapia para pacientes com EM. Por meio dos sites PUBMED, EMBASE, LILACS e Scielo foram realizadas buscas usando os descritores “vitamin D”, e “multiple sclerosis” até 12/09/2013. Estudos clínicos randomizados, controlados e duplo-cegos foram selecionados para avaliar a resposta terapêutica da vitamina D na EM. Não foram encontradas evidências científicas que justifiquem o uso da vitamina D em monoterapia no tratamento da EM, na prática clínica.

Dynamics of cell and tissue genesis in the male reproductive system of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) Amblyomma cajennese (Fabricius, 1787) and Amblyomma aureolatum (Pallas, 1772): a comparative analysis

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

Energetic-environmental assessment of a scenario for Brazilian cellulosic ethanol

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

Minimum Evaporation Model of Dermatological Delivery Systems. Lamellar Liquid Crystal Formulations Containing Brazilian Nut (Bertholletia excelsa HBK) Vegetable Oil and Guarana Glycolic Extract

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Media Education and Brazilian Educational Policies for the Enhancement of Learning

As media education concepts and practices have been disseminated and strengthened in European countries and Americas, the policies responsible for that expansion remain little known, particularly in countries where the achievements have been recently noted. That is the case for Brazil, where there have been new opportunities for media education, considered as a valuable resource to help accomplish goals of the educational system. This paper looks into the contribution of media education to the enhancement of teaching and learning in the context of innovations brought by recent policies of the Brazilian Ministry of Education. After educational reform programmes which brought the opportunity for emerging fields such as media education, we produced teaching material and conducted a series of workshops with students and teachers from state secondary schools. By reading and producing multimedia information about local public services available to young people, pupils learned about democracy, citizenship, civic engagement, media language, and identity. Lessons from our experiment are discussed against the backdrop of education policies being implemented to ameliorate harsh conditions resulting from the recent economic crisis. We suggest that media education can help by creating a learning environment in which the students become aware of the value of educational attainments.

Assessing Paternity in Japanese Quails (Coturnix Japonica) Using Microsatellite Markers - Inferences for Its Mating System and Reproductive Success

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Channel arrangements and depositional styles in the Sao Lourenco fluvial megafan, Brazilian Pantanal wetland

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

The first Brazilian municipal initiative of payments for environmental services and its potential for soil conservation

It has become evident that policies aimed at mitigating the growing water resources and water use conflicts in Brazil are crucial. The municipality of Extrema in Minas Gerais state in Brazil pioneered the first Brazilian municipal PES initiative (Conservador das Aguas program), based on the relationship between forests and the benefits they provide. This study aimed to assess soil loss in the Posses sub-basin, where the Conservador das Aguas program began. Additionally, we aimed to determine the potential that this PES initiative has for soil conservation, as well as to minimize the soil losses as a function of forest area size and location in order to propose a technical approach for implementing PES. In this sense, considering the prescribed conservation practices, land use situation, and soil cover in the Posses sub-basin, we analyzed the effectiveness of the Conservador das Aguas program before and after implementation in relation to reduced soil loss under 36 different land use and soil cover scenarios. We used a geographic information system (GIS) for spatializing and producing different information plans and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) for estimating soil loss. As a result, we found that minimization of soil loss may be obtained by adopting pasture conservation practices. Additionally the expected average soil loss in the Posses sub-basin under conditions of land use and soil cover, before and after implementing the water conservation program was 30.63 and 7.06 Mg ha(-1) year(-1), respectively. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Saint Louis encephalitis and Rocio virus serosurvey in Brazilian horses

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

Physical activity, adiposity and hypertension among patients of public healthcare system

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

Bio-Optical Properties of the Inner Continental Shelf off Santos Estuarine System, Southeastern Brazil, and their Implications for Ocean Color Algorithm Performance

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

Development of a knowledge-based system for cogeneration plant design: Verification, validation and lessons learned

This paper presents the development of a knowledge-based system (KBS) prototype able to design natural gas cogeneration plants, demonstrating new features for this field. The design of such power plants represents a synthesis problem, subject to thermodynamic constraints that include the location and sizing of components. The project was developed in partnership with the major Brazilian gas and oil company, and involved interaction with an external consultant as well as an interdisciplinary team. The paper focuses on validation and lessons learned, concentrating on important aspects such as the generation of alternative configuration schemes, breadth of each scheme description created by the system, and its module to support economic feasibility analysis. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Uso de sistemas construídos de áreas alagadas (Constructed Wetland System - CWS) tipo ascendente/descendente, para tratamento de efluentes avícolas

Human development and population growth during the twentieth century increased the water demand, tripling its consumption between 1950 and 1990. As the water streams were polluted; and as water is the source of minerals and also regulates vital functions, it becomes the vehicle of transmission and consequently spreads many diseases. Probably, the industries are the major responsible for this pollution when they dump untreated effluents to water streams, saturating the already insufficient net of sanitation facilities polluting water and soil. An effective treatment has been established with low cost in Europe and the United States, through constructed systems on wetlands Constructed Wetland Systems - CWSs, gradually used in other countries in the last three decades. Lately, we observe a continuous growth in Brazilian poultry business, and poultry industry showed greatest dynamism in the country, following the global market. Pondering this information and the efficiency of such treatment, this work aimed to study prototypes, in a laboratory scale, simulating ascending and descending types of CWSs, vegetated with aquatic macrophytes Eichhornia crassipes and the uses of aggregates and soil, to treat industrial wastewater from slaughterhouses and aviary. We conducted the initial characterization of the effluent to have an idea of its constituents and to scale the system and the continuous flow. Furthermore, we characterized the soil to be used in this system. The collects are periodically made in the refrigeration industry FRICOCK FRIGORIFICAÇÃO AVICULTURA INDÚSTRIA E COMÉRCIO LTDA. for local treatment simulation. The effluent that was treated with 12 prototypes of CWSs are analyzed with some frequency. The results of these reviews were compared to the effluent coming from the industry... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Singular value analyses of voltage stability on power system considering wind generation variability

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Análisis organizacional del partido de la democracia social brasileña en el estado de San Pablo (1988-2006)

The article represents a theoretical and methodological approach to the analysis of organizational dynamics of political parties today, based on a study of the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PSDB) in the State of Sao Pãulo (period between 1988 to 2006). It is hypothesized that the structure and the institutional rules of a particular party, or even their election results, are insufficient to explain the inner workings, such as the role of party organization in the electoral system. An approach that articulates the relationship patterns, election results and posts held in the party, identified the factors that explain the political capital that circulated within the party and ensured its organizational dynamics over the period analyzed.