Four species of Brazilian poison frogs related to Epipedobates pictus (Dendrobatidae): taxonomy and natural history observations

Presents morphological and natural history data on Epipedobates pictus and three additional taxa currently regarded as synonyms of the former: Epipedobates braccatus, E. flavopictus and E. hahneli. Morphological data on tadpoles and adults, in addition to distribution patterns and vocalizations, indicate that the four taxa represent distinct species. -from Authors

Burial history and porosity evolution of Brazilian upper Jurassic to tertiary sandstone reservoirs

The parameter time-depth index (TDI) is applied in this study to quantify empirically the influence of burial history on sandstone porosity evolution. The TDI, expressed in kilometers per million years of age, is defined as the area in the burial history diagram enclosed by the burial curve of the reservoir and the axes of the diagram. In practice, reservoir depths during burial history are integrated at regular time intervals of 1 m.y. The calculations exclude present-day bathymetry or paleobathymetry. Sandstone reservoirs from several sedimentary basins along the Brazilian continental margin (Santos, Campos, Espírito Santo, Cumuruxatiba, Recôncavo, Sergipe, Alagoas, and Potiguar) were analyzed to investigate the evolution of porosity against TDI. These Upper Jurassic to Tertiary sandstones lie in depths of 700 to 4900 m, and are hydrocarbon charged (oil or gas). Average porosities of most of these reservoirs were obtained from core analysis, and a few porosity data were taken from well log interpretations. Detrital constituents of the sandstones are mainly quartz, feldspar, and granitic/gneissic rock fragments. Sandstones were grouped into three main reservoir types, based on composition (detrital quartz content) and grain sorting: Type I (average quartz content <50%) are very coarse grained to conglomeratic, poorly to very poorly sorted lithic arkoses. Rock fragments are mainly granitic/gneissic and coarse grained. Type II (average quartz content ranging from 50% to 70%) are fine- to coarse-grained (pebbles absent or occurring in small percentages), moderately sorted arkoses. Type III (average quartz content >80%) are fine to coarse, moderately to poorly sorted quartz arenites or subarkoses. Plots of average porosity against depth show great dispersion in porosity values; such dispersion is mostly due to differences in the reservoir burial histories. However, plotting porosity values against the TDI for individual reservoir types produces well-defined trends. The decrease in porosity is less marked in Type III reservoirs, intermediate in Type II, and faster in Type I. Such plots suggest that it is possible to make relatively accurate porosity predictions based on reservoir TDI, texture, and composition,: within the constraints of reservoir depth/age and basin tectonics analyzed in this study.

Mitochondrial genome sequence of the Brazilian luminescent click beetle Pyrophorus divergens (Coleoptera: Elateridae): Mitochondrial genes utility to investigate the evolutionary history of Coleoptera and its bioluminescence

The Coleoptera order is the richest group among Metazoa, but its phylogenetics remains incompletely understood. Among Coleoptera, bioluminescence is found within the Elateroidea, but the evolution of this character remains a mystery. Mitochondrial DNA has been used extensively to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships, however, the evolution of a single gene does not always correspond to the species evolutionary history and the molecular marker choice is a key step in this type of analysis. To create a solid basis to better understand the evolutionary history of Coleoptera and its bioluminescence, we sequenced and comparatively analyzed the mitochondrial genome of the Brazilian luminescent click beetle Pyrophorus divergens (Coleoptera: Elateridae). © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Willy Corrêa de Oliveira: por um ouvir materialista histórico

Pós-graduação em Música - IA

Hydromorphic Soil, Topographic Depression and Vegetation Development History by Using 13c and 14c In Rondônia State (sw Brazilian Amazon)

13C e 14C obtidos da matéria orgânica do solo foram usados para diferenciar fases de flutuação da vegetação em transição floresta-savana. A região apresenta baixos platôs com depressões topográficas imperfeitamente drenadas na superfície. Na topossequência estudada foram analisados solos de cinco perfis localizados sob floresta (F), transição floresta-savana (S1), borda da depressão sob savana (S2) e centro da depressão sob savana (S3). Os valores de 13C e idades evidenciam que a ~ 200cm de profundidade, com idades entre ~ 12.000 e 10.000 A.P., valores de -27‰ a -27,7‰ indicam vegetação de floresta (C3) em todos os perfis. Na profundidade de 100 cm, com idades entre ~ 6.000 e 5.000 A.P., houve enriquecimento de – 20,2‰ a -22,3‰, indicando regressão da floresta e expansão da savana. Valores entre -15,9 e -18,7‰ a 50-60 cm, estimado entre ~ 4.700 a 3.800 A.P., sugere máxima expansão da vegetação C4 em resposta às condições climáticas mais secas, exceto no perfil S3 com valores mais empobrecidos (-20,9‰), sugerindo que na depressão, o desenvolvimento da hidromorfia possibilitou a presença de espécies de gramíneas C3 e C4 da savana em resposta as mudanças das condições ambientais.

History, structure, and genetic diversity of Brazilian Gir cattle

The Gir cattle breed (Bos indicus) is an important genetic resource for milk production throughout the tropics. The small number of Gir animals introduced in Brazil, rapid dissemination of this breed recently, and the intensification of selection practices could contribute to increase of inbreeding level and reduce genetic diversity in this population. The population was analyzed in terms of pedigree completeness level, inbreeding coefficient, coancestry, generation interval, effective population size, effective number of founders and ancestors, among others. Despite the low mean inbreeding (around 2%), minor problems were identified in the population structure of the Brazilian Gir cattle, e.g., trend of narrower bottlenecks in the pedigree in recent years. The effective population sizes based on inbreeding (94) or coancestry (165.9) as well as the effective number of ancestors (76) and founders (143) were relativity high. The major subdivision of the Gir breed was observed between 1993 and 2002 (dairy and dual-purpose herds, wide use of within-herd matings). In this period the level of inbreeding remained at a higher level, there was a small increase in coancestry and the number of equivalent subpopulations was approximately 6. After 2002, there was genetic exchange between subpopulations, reduction in the average inbreeding, pronounced increase in the average coancestry, and the number of equivalent subpopulations was about 2. Furthermore, it was found that the mean generation interval of the population tended to increase in recent years (around 9 years). About 23% of genetic diversity has been lost since the first generation of founders. Based on the effective population size, number of equivalent subpopulations, inbreeding, coancestry, and loss of genetic diversity, the Gir population is still highly structured, but there is ample room for artificial selection. The results regarding the effective number of founders and ancestors in the present population demonstrate the existence of bottlenecks in the pedigree and indicate the need for population structure monitoring. Nevertheless, the Brazilian Gir breed can perfectly face a breeding program with high selection intensity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Life-history traits of the red brocade hermit crab Dardanus insignis on the subtropical Brazilian coast

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

Habitat use, reproductive traits and social interactions in a stream-dweller treefrog endemic to the Brazilian Cerrado

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Cryptic lineages and Pleistocene population expansion in a Brazilian Cerrado frog

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Subtle Cognitive Deficits in Adults With a Previous History of Sydenham's Chorea During Childhood

Objective. To evaluate the neuropsychological profile and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of adults who had rheumatic fever (RF) during childhood with and without Sydenham's chorea (SC).Methods. Three groups of patients were assessed: adults who had RF with SC during childhood (SC group), adults who had RF without SC during childhood (RF group), and controls (CT group). A range of neuropsychological tests looked at several cognitive domains. HRQOL was measured through a Brazilian version of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey.Results. Twenty patients were included in the SC group, 23 patients in the RF group, and 19 patients in the CT group. The 3 groups were homogeneous regarding sex (P = 0.078), age (P = 0.799), schooling (P = 0.600), socioeconomic status (P = 0.138), intelligence quotient (P = 0.329), and scores for anxiety (P = 0.156) and depression (P = 0.076). The SC group demonstrated inferior performance in tests that assessed attention (Digit Span Forward [ P = 0.005], Corsi Block Forward [ P = 0.014]), speeded information processing (Trail Making A [ P = 0.009], Symbol Search [ P = 0.042]), and executive functions and working memory (Corsi Block Backward [ P = 0.028]), and higher scores for attention deficit scale (P = 0.030) when compared with the RF and CT groups. They also showed a tendency toward lower scores in the physical aspects, vitality, emotional aspects, and mental health domains of the SF-36. The RF group had a lower score for the general health domain than the CT group (P = 0.030).Conclusion. Patients who had SC during childhood can exhibit inferior performance in tasks that evaluate attention, speeded information processing, executive functions, and working memory in adult life. Therefore, there is indirect evidence of the persistence of dysfunction in cerebral circuits involved with the basal ganglia. They also presented a worse self-evaluation in HRQOL that was not related to cognitive impairments.

WHO disability grade does not influence physical activity in Brazilian leprosy patients

Disability caused by leprosy may be associated with stigma. The aim of this work is to describe the degree of disability, quality of life and level of physical activity of individuals with leprosy and to identify possible correlations between these factors. Ninety-seven patients from two referral centres were studied. A complete medical history was taken and the World Health Organization degree of physical disability classification (WHO-DG), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short-form health Survey (SF36) were applied. The mean age of patients was 51 +/- 14.9 years old; participants were predominantly men, married, unemployed, had concluded treatment and had had lepromatous leprosy. The WHO-DG and the level of physical activity (P-value = 0.36) were not correlated. The WHO-DG showed that 72.2% of patients had disabilities, 37-1% of whom performed vigorous physical activities. No significant association was observed between the WHO-DG and the domains of the QoL SF-36 except for functional capacity (P-value = 0.02); the physical capacity is generally 'very good' when individuals have no disabilities and 'bad' with severe disabilities. In conclusion, the WHO-DG of leprosy patients does not affect the level of physical activities or quality of life except functional capacity. There is no significant association between physical activities and quality of life in these individuals.

Theoretical Approximations Between Brazilian and Spanish Authors' Production in the Field of Knowledge Organization in the Production of Journals on Information Science in Brazil

This work identifies and analyzes literature about knowledge organization (KO), expressed in scientific journals communication of information science (IS). It performs an exploratory study on the Base de Dados Referencial de Artigos de Periodicos em Ciência da Informacio (BRAPCI, Reference Database of Journal Articles on Information Science) between the years 2000 and 2010. The descriptors relating to "knowledge organization" are used in order to recover and analyze the corresponding articles and to identify descriptors and concepts which integrate the semantic universe related to KO. Through the analysis of content, based on metrical studies, this article gathers and interprets data relating to documents and authors. Through this, it demonstrates the development of this field and its research fronts according to the observed characteristics, as well as noting the transformation indicative in the production of knowledge. The work describes the influences of the Spanish researchers on Brazilian literature in the fields of knowledge and information organization. As a result, it presents the most cited and productive authors, the theoretical currents which support them, and the most significant relationships of the Spanish-Brazilian authors network. Based on the constant key-words analysis in the cited articles, the co-existence of the French conception current and the incipient Spanish influence in Brazil is observed. Through this, it contributes to the comprehension of the thematic range relating to KO, stimulating both criticism and self-criticism, debate and knowledge creation, based on studies that have been developed and institutionalized in academic contexts in Spain and Brazil.

Identification of the Communicative Abilities of Brazilian Children With Cerebral Palsy in the Family Context

This article highlights the importance of the information obtained from the family in the implementation of the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system. The objective was to investigate the communicative abilities of children with severe communication deficit through their parents' reports within the family routine. Eleven parents of children affiliated with a rehabilitation program in a public university in Brazil participated in this research. Per their parents' reports, the children demonstrated a variety of communication skills related to comprehension, expressive skills, and vocabulary. Parents further reported their children's daily communication routines including social partners, communication environment, and the materials the children enjoyed the most. These results emphasize the importance of family involvement in planning AAC so that it is functional within the family context.

Militarism, conflicts and indiscipline in police practices in the State of São Paulo during the First Brazilian Republic

This article examines the challenges involved in the process of police militarization and implementation of police discipline in the State of São Paulo during the First Brazilian Republic (1889 to 1930). The implementation of a militarized police model, initiated by the 1906 French Military Mission, was not fully able to deal with indiscipline issues among policemen. Beyond creating problems of its own, such as fostering a corporatist culture and strengthening rigid hierarchies, military discipline prevented police forces to address new issues that would affect its practices. Documents in the São Paulo State Public Archive provides a window to the daily violence, the personal compromises, the institutional conflicts and the political meddling that was part of police life in the State of São Paulo at the turn of the century.