Distribution and hydrolytic enzyme characteristics of Candida albicans strains isolated from diabetic patients and their non-diabetic consorts

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

Microhabitat selection and daily movements of two rodents (Necromys lasiurus and Oryzomys scotti) in Brazilian Cerrado, as revealed by a spool-and-line device

Studies on patterns of habitat use by mammals are necessary for understanding the mechanisms involved in their distribution and abundance. In this study, we used the spool-and-line method to investigate habitat utilization by two sigmodontine rodents from Brazilian Cerrado, Necromys lasiurus and Oryzomys scotti. We conducted the study in a Cerrado area in central Brazil (15 degrees 56'S and e 47 degrees 56'W) where the animals were caught in an area of 7.68 ha of Cerrado sensu stricto. Captured individuals were marked, equipped with a spool-and-Line device, and released at the same capture point. The next day we followed the thread to record their daily movements and find their nests. To investigate microhabitat selection we compared habitat characteristics along traits of each studied species with general habitat characteristics of the study area. Although the mean 24-h distance was greater for N. lasiurus (mean +/- SE: 41.9 +/- 42.2 m, N=3) than for O. scotti (28.7 +/- 14.2 m, N=6) this difference was not significant (Mann-Whitney test, U=26, P>0.6). We detected significant differences among observed microhabitats variables of both species and available microhabitat characteristics as determined by discriminant analysis (Wilks's lambda F=3.001; df=14, 116; P<0.001). Both species were associated to microhabitat characteristics whose values differed markedly from the overall available habitat. Along the first canonical discriminant function of the DFA both them were associated with greater grass height than the mean height available and along the second axis N. lasiurus selected areas with higher fruit availability and more shelters than those selected by 0. scotti. For stronger inferences regarding differential patterns of habitat utilization by Cerrado rodents we suggest the simultaneous use of both spool-and-line and standard trapping methods. (c) 2005 Deutsche Geseltschaft fur Saugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. ALL rights reserved.

Morphological and physiological variation between queens and workers of Protonectarina sylveirae (de Saussure) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estatística multivariada na discriminação de raças amazônicas de pupunheiras (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) em Manaus (Brasil)

As raças e populações de pupunheiras ao longo dos rios Amazonas e Solimões apresentam grande variabilidade genética ainda não totalmente caracterizada. Neste estudo, foram aplicadas técnicas estatísticas multivariadas a 15 descritores morfológicos numa tentativa de caracterizar, morfometricamente, três raças existentes ao longo da Bacia desses rios. As três análises em conjunto permitiram uma discriminação das raças, mostrando também que os descritores mais importantes nessa seleção foram: número de espigas, comprimento da ráquis, peso do fruto, espessura das cascas, facilidade para descascar os frutos, peso das cascas, sabor dos frutos, espessura da polpa, distância morfológica dos frutos e peso da semente.

Effect of high and low molecular weight glutenin subunits, and subunits of gliadin on physicochemical parameters of different wheat genotypes

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Oldenburg Burnout Inventory - student version: cultural adaptation and validation into Portuguese

Realizou-se adaptação cultural do Inventário de Oldenburg para estudantes (OLBI-S) em português e estimou-se sua confiabilidade e validade. O OLBI-S foi preenchido por 958 estudantes universitários brasileiros e 602 portugueses. O modelo fatorial original apresentou ajustamento adequado mas foram removidos dois itens com confiabilidade individual baixa (λ<0,5). A nova estrutura apresentou bom ajustamento a 2/3 da amostra total sendo invariante no 1/3 restante da amostra. Verificou-se baixa consistência interna e validade convergente, confiabilidade compósita aceitável, boa validade discriminante, concorrente e divergente. O OLBI-S não foi invariante nas amostras de Brasil e Portugal. O OLBI-S apresentou limitações e ausência de validade transcultural nas amostras estudadas.

Agrupamento de países segundo indicadores de padrão de vida

Foram estudados 125 países avaliados por um conjunto de 26 indicadores básicos, de saúde, econômicos e educacionais, usando-se três métodos estatísticos multivariados: Análise de Agrupamento, Análise de Componentes Principais e Análise de Variância Multivariada. As variáveis mais discriminatórias foram a expectativa de vida, as taxas de mortalidade infantil e de menores de cinco anos, as taxas de natalidade e de fertilidade e a taxa de matrícula no segundo grau para o sexo feminino. Os países foram ordenados de acordo com um índice de padrão de vida e separados em cinco grupos.

A structure-activity relationship study of quinone compounds with trypanocidal activity

A set of 25 quinone compounds with anti-trypanocidal activity was studied by using the density functional theory (DFT) method in order to calculate atomic and molecular properties to be correlated with the biological activity. The chemometric methods principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA), Kth nearest neighbor (KNN) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) were used to obtain possible relationships between the calculated descriptors and the biological activity studied and to predict the anti-trypanocidal activity of new quinone compounds from a prediction set. Four descriptors were responsible for the separation between the active and inactive compounds: T-5 (torsion angle), QTS1 (sum of absolute values of the atomic charges), VOLS2 (volume of the substituent at region B) and HOMO-1 (energy of the molecular orbital below HOMO). These descriptors give information on the kind of interaction that occurs between the compounds and the biological receptor. The prediction study was done with a set of three new compounds by using the PCA, HCA, SDA, KNN and SIMCA methods and two of them were predicted as active against the Trypanosoma cruzi. (c) 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, X-ray Crystal Structure and Theoretical Calculations of Antileishmanial Neolignan Analogues

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Escherichia coli phylogenetic group determination and its application in the identification of the major animal source of fecal contamination

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

Adenocarcinoma in females detected in serous effusions: Cytomorphologic aspects and immunocytochemical reactivity to cytokeratins 7 and 20

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the usefulness of assessing the immunoreactivity of cytokeratins 7 (CK7) and 20 (CK20) as well as several cytomorphologic parameters in effusions with metastatic adenocarcinomas in the search for the primary site of the tumor. STUDY DESIGN: From the files of the Pathology Department, A. C. Camargo Hospital, we studied cytologic smears from 73 metastatic adenocarcinomas originally from the breast, 63 from the ovary, 40 from the lung and 32 from the stomach, looking for morphologic parameters that could have discriminant potential in suggesting the primary site in a routine situation, including intranuclear inclusions, prominent nucleoli, mitosis, signet-ring cells, psammoma bodies, nuclear crease, binucleation and multinucleation, papillary features, acinar profile (including ball cells) and single cells. Immunoreactions were performed with monoclonal antibodies to CK7 (OV-TL 12/30 and CK20 (Ks 20.8) and included morphologic analysis. Both analyses were studied in a blind fashion regarding the primary site of the tumors. RESULTS: Positivity ratios for breast, ovary, stomach and lung cases were 67.6%, 63.5%, 29.7% and 45.5%, respectively, for CK7 and 17.2%, 15.8%, 13.5% and 32.2%, respectively, for CK20. Discriminant analysis of morphologic and immunocytochemical parameters had an error rate of 42.9% in recognizing the primary site and a Wilk's lambda of .7290. CONCLUSION: The more efficient parameter with discriminant function was the papillary appearance showed by CK7, which should be used in further studies with a similar scope. The set of parameters used in this study were insufficient to discriminate the primary site of female adenocarcinomas in effusions with significant accuracy.

Measuring and analyzing color and texture information in anatomical leaf cross sections: An approach using computer vision to aid plant species identification

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

Monitoramento da comunidade de plantas daninhas na cana-de-açúcar e da eficiência de controle químico por meio de técnicas de análise multivariada de dados

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Long-term clinical evaluation of the color stability and stainability of acrylic resin denture teeth

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

Classification of intact açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and jucara (Euterpe edulis Mart) fruits based on dry matter content by means of near infrared spectroscopy

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