Purification of Candida guilliermondii and Pichia ohmeri killer toxin as an active agent against Penicillium expansum

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Vinegar as an antimicrobial agent for control of Candida spp. in complete denture wearers

The use of denture is known to increase the carriage of Candida in healthy patients, and the proliferation of Candida albicans strains can be associated with denture-induced stomatitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of vinegar as an antimicrobial agent for control of Candida spp. in complete upper denture wearers. Fifty-five patients were submitted to a detailed clinical interview and oral clinical examination, and were instructed to keep their dentures immersed in a 10% vinegar solution ( pH less than 3) overnight for 45 days. Before and after the experimental period, saliva samples were collected for detection of Candida, counting of cfu/mL and identification of species by phenotypical tests ( germ tube formation, chlamidoconidia production, and carbohydrate fermentation and assimilation). The results were analyzed using Spearman's correlation and Student's t-test (p=0.05). Candida yeasts were present in 87.3% of saliva samples before the treatment. A significant reduction was verified in CFU/mL counts of Candida after treatment. A positive correlation between Candida and denture stomatitis was verified, since the decrease of cfu/mL counts was correlated with a reduction in cases of denture stomatitis. Although it was not able to eliminate C. albicans, the immersion of the complete denture in 10% vinegar solution, during the night, reduced the amounts (cfu/mL) of Candida spp. in the saliva and the presence of denture stomatitis in the studied patients.

Searching for molecular markers in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) by statistical and bioinformatic analysis of larynx-derived SAGE libraries

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

Searching for anomalous Higgs couplings in peripheral heavy ion collisions at the LHC

We investigate the sensitivity of the heavy ion mode of the LHC to anomalous Higgs boson couplings to photons, H gamma gamma, through the analysis of the processes gamma gamma --> b (b) over bar and gamma gamma --> gamma gamma in peripheral heavy ion collisions. We suggest cuts to improve the signal over background ratio and determine the capability of LHC to impose bounds on anomalous couplings by searching for a Higgs boson signal in these modes. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Searching for planar signatures in WMAP

We search for planar deviations of statistical isotropy in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data by applying a recently introduced angular-planar statistics both to full-sky and to masked temperature maps, including in our analysis the effect of the residual foreground contamination and systematics in the foreground removing process as sources of error. We confirm earlier findings that full-sky maps exhibit anomalies at the planar (l) and angular (l) scales (l; l) = (2; 5); (4; 7); and (6; 8), which seem to be due to unremoved foregrounds since this features are present in the full-sky map but not in the masked maps. on the other hand, our test detects slightly anomalous results at the scales (l; l) = (10; 8) and (2; 9) in the masked maps but not in the full-sky one, indicating that the foreground cleaning procedure (used to generate the full-sky map) could not only be creating false anomalies but also hiding existing ones. We also find a significant trace of an anomaly in the full-sky map at the scale (l; l) = (10; 5), which is still present when we consider galactic cuts of 18.3% and 28.4%. As regards the quadrupole (l = 2), we find a coherent over-modulation over the whole celestial sphere, for all full-sky and cut-sky maps. Overall, our results seem to indicate that current CMB maps derived from WMAP data do not show significant signs of anisotropies, as measured by our angular-planar estimator. However, we have detected a curious coherence of planar modulations at angular scales of the order of the galaxy's plane, which may be an indication of residual contaminations in the full-and cut-sky maps.

Searching for squeezed particle-antiparticle correlations in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

Squeezed correlations of particle-antiparticle pairs were predicted to exist if the hadron masses were modified in the hot and dense medium formed in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Although well-established theoretically, they have not yet been observed experimentally. We suggest here a clear method to search for such a signal by analyzing the squeezed correlation functions in terms of measurable quantities. We illustrate this suggestion for simulated phi phi pairs at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) energies.

Flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of tetracycline and doxycycline in pharmaceutical formulations using chloramine-T as oxidizing agent

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

Honey bee as an effective pollinating agent of pumpkin

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

Host specificity of Metriona elatior, a potential biological control agent of tropical soda apple, Solanum viarum, in the USA

The leaf beetle Metriona elatior from Brazil-Argentina was screened in the Florida (USA) State quarantine facility as a potential biological control agent of tropical soda apple, Solanum viarum, a recently arrived weed species. Multiple-choice host-specificity tests were conducted in small cages (60 cm x 60 cm x 60 cm) using 95 plant species in 29 families. Adults fed heavily on the main target weed (S. viarum), and on turkeyberry, Solanum torvum (noxious weed of Asiatic origin); fed moderately on red soda apple, Solanum capsicoides (weed of South American origin), and eggplant, Solanum melongena (economic crop); and fed lightly on aquatic soda apple, Solanum tampicense (weed of Mexican-Caribbean-Central American origin), and on silverleaf nightshade, Solanum elaeagnifolium (native weed widely distributed). M. elatior adults laid 84 to 97% of their egg masses on S. viarum, and 3 to 16% on S. melongena. Non-choice host-specificity tests were also conducted in quarantine in which M. elatior adults and neonate larvae were exposed to 17 and 19 plant species, respectively. Tests with the neonates indicate that this insect was able to complete its development on S. viarum, S. torvum, S. melongena, and S. capsicoides. Although some adult feeding and oviposition occurred on S. melongena in quarantine on potted plants in small cages, no feeding or oviposition by M. elatior was observed in field experiments conducted in Brazil. Surveys in unsprayed S. melongena fields in Argentina and Brazil indicated that M. elatior is not a pest of S. melongena in South America. The evidence obtained from the South-American field surveys, Brazil open-field experiments, and Florida quarantine host specificity tests indicate that M. elatior causes significant feeding damage to S. viarum, and does not represent a threat to S. melongena crops in the USA. Therefore an application for permission to release M. elatior against S. viarum in the USA was submitted in October 1998.