Multiple events of horizontal transfer of the Minos transposable element between Drosophila species

In this study the Minos element was analyzed in 26 species of the repleta group and seven species of the saltans group of the genus Drosophila. The PCR and Southern blot analysis showed a wide occurrence of the Minos transposable element among species of the repleta and the saltans groups and also a low number of insertions in both genomes. Three different analyses, nucleotide divergence, historical associations, and comparisons between substitution rates (d(N) and d(S)) of Minos and Adh host gene sequences, suggest the occurrence of horizontal transfer between repleta and saltans species. These data reinforce and extend the Arca and Savakis [Genetica 108 (2000) 263] results and suggest five events of horizontal transfer to explain the present Minos distribution: between D. saltans and the ancestor of the mulleri and the mojavensis clusters; between D. hydei and the ancestor of the mulleri and the mojavensis clusters; between D. mojavensis and D. aldrichi; between D. buzzatii and D. serido; and between D. spenceri and D. emarginata. An alternative explanation would be that repeated events of horizontal transfer involving D. hydei, which is a cosmopolitan species that diverged from the others repleta species as long as 14 Mya, could have spread Minos within the repleta group and to D. saltans. The data presented in this article support a model in which distribution of Minos transposon among Drosophila species is determined by horizontal transmission balanced by vertical inactivation and extinction. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of anxiety on visual search, movement kinematics, and performance in table tennis: A test of Eysenck and Calvo's processing efficiency theory

Processing efficiency theory predicts that anxiety reduces the processing capacity of working memory and has detrimental effects on performance. When tasks place little demand on working memory, the negative effects of anxiety can be avoided by increasing effort. Although performance efficiency decreases, there is no change in performance effectiveness. When tasks impose a heavy demand on working memory, however, anxiety leads to decrements in efficiency and effectiveness. These presumptions were tested using a modified table tennis task that placed low (LWM) and high (HWM) demands on working memory. Cognitive anxiety was manipulated through a competitive ranking structure and prize money. Participants' accuracy in hitting concentric circle targets in predetermined sequences was taken as a measure of performance effectiveness, while probe reaction time (PRT), perceived mental effort (RSME), visual search data, and arm kinematics were recorded as measures of efficiency. Anxiety had a negative effect on performance effectiveness in both LWM and HWM tasks. There was an increase in frequency of gaze and in PRT and RSME values in both tasks under high vs. low anxiety conditions, implying decrements in performance efficiency. However, participants spent more time tracking the ball in the HWM task and employed a shorter tau margin when anxious. Although anxiety impaired performance effectiveness and efficiency, decrements in efficiency were more pronounced in the HWM task than in the LWM task, providing support for processing efficiency theory.

Influence of Orthodontic Dental Movement on the Healing Process of Teeth With Periapical Lesions

The purpose of this study was to histomorphologically evaluate (in dog's teeth) the influence of tooth movement in the healing of chronic periapical lesions. Thirty roots of incisors and premolars of two dogs (1-year-old) were used in this research. After pulpectomy, the root canals remained exposed to the oral environment for 6 months for achievement of periapical lesions. Twenty root canals were biomechanically prepared and received a calcium hydroxide dressing for 14 days before being filled with gutta-percha points and Sealapex sealer. After root canal treatment, some incisors were submitted to orthodontic movement, whereas the other roots remained without orthodontic movement. The orthodontic appliance was removed at 5 months and 15 days after treatment, the dogs were killed 15 days later and the specimens were prepared for histomorphological analysis. The results showed that the orthodontic movement delayed, but did not hinder, the periapical healing process. (J Endod 2006;32:115-119)

Immediate and sustained changes in tongue movement with an experimental palatal Fistula: A case study

Objective: To determine the immediate and longer-term effect(s) on tongue movement following the placement of an experimental opening through a palatal obturator (replicate of subject's prosthesis) worn by an adult male with an unrepaired cleft of the hard and soft palate.Methods: Tongue movements associated with an anterior experimental opening of 20 mm(2) were examined under three conditions: a control condition in which the subject wore the experimental obturator completely occluded, a condition immediately after drilling the experimental openings through the obturator, and a condition after 5 days in which the subject wore the experimental obturator with the experimental opening. An Electromagnetic Articulograph was used for obtaining tongue movements during speech.Results: the findings partly revealed that the immediate introduction of a perturbation to the speech system (experimental fistula) had a temporary effect on tongue movement. After sustained perturbation (for 5 days), the system normalized (going back toward control condition's behavior). Perceptual data were consistent with kinematic tongue movement direction in most of the cases.Conclusions: Although the immediate response can be interpreted as indicative of the subject's attempts to move the tongue toward the opening to compensate for air loss, the findings following a sustained perturbation indicate that with time, other physiological adjustments (such as respiratory adjustments, for example) may help reestablish the requirements of a pressure-regulating system.

Short-term movement and retreat sites of Leptodactylus labyrinthicus (Anura : Leptodactylidae) during the breeding season: A spool-and-line tracking study

Capture/recapture studies significantly increase our knowledge of the natural history of anuran amphibians. Many different methods have been employed in these studies, but a number of new techniques still require experimental validation. During two reproductive seasons in a Cerrado remnant in southeastern Brazil, we investigated the movement patterns and habitat use of the pepper frog, Leptodactylus labyrinthicus, using a spool-and-line device. This low-cost device did not appear to interfere with the activities of the frogs and allowed for constant monitoring, showing precise routes of movement and great predictability of relocations. Both sexes were active at night. During the day, males and females made use of retreat sites under vegetation or in burrows constructed by small- and medium-sized mammals. Males and females did not use standardized routes; there were no significant differences between their movements, and movements were not correlated with body size or environmental conditions. Individuals are able to move further than 100 m per day, a characteristic that may enable this species to colonize or recolonize open areas.

Camponeses Brazil's Peasant Movement in Historical Perspective (1946-2004)

Comparison of the histories of three leading peasant organizations in the Pontal do Paranapanema region of Brazil-the Partido Comunista do Brasil (PCB) from 1945 to 1964, the Confederacao Nacional de Trabalhadores na Agricultura (CONTAG) from 1964 to 1984, and the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem-Terra (MST) from 1984 to 2004-suggests that continuity is as important as change in understanding Brazilian peasant movements. The MST has been considered a "new social movement" in that it has eschewed partisan politics, incorporated families as members rather than just male heads of household, had a national scope and a participatory decision-making structure, and been attuned to the international struggle over globalization. Placing it in historical perspective makes it clear, however, that this is not the first time that militants have organized around the concept of peasants as a political identity; that while the representation of peasants in the leadership of contemporary rural labor organizations may be greater than in the past, earlier peasant leaders also struggled on behalf of their class; that earlier peasant organizations had, if not a national presence, a substantial presence in the agricultural states of the time; and that attempts at international organization to unite peasant struggles around the globe are not entirely new. This is not to deny the innovative features of contemporary movements but to suggest that the investigation of past achievements will contribute to a fuller appreciation of these movements' conditions and prospects.

Repair characteristics of horizontal root fracture: a case report

Radicular fractures in permanent teeth are uncommon injuries among dental traumas, comprising 0.5-7% of the cases. Fracture occurs most often in the middle-third of the root and rarely at the apical-third. The present paper reports a clinical case of a horizontal radicular fracture located between the middle- and apical-third of a upper left-central incisor followed-up for over 3 years. The tooth was extracted owing to periodontal reasons. Histomorphologically, it showed pulp-vitality preservation and root healing by hard-tissue deposition.

Revisiting horizontal transfer of transposable elements in Drosophila

Horizontal transfer ( HT), defined as the transfer of genetic material between species, is considered to be an essential step in the 'life cycle' of transposable elements. We present a broad overview of suspected cases of HT of transposable elements in Drosophila. Hundred-one putative events of HT have been proposed in Drosophila for 21 different elements (5.0% refer to non-long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons, 42.6% to LTR retrotransposons and 52.4% to DNA transposons). We discuss the methods used to infer HT, their limits and the putative vectors of transposable elements. We outline all the alternative hypotheses and ask how we can be almost certain that phylogenetic inconsistencies are due to HT.

Horizontal distribution of megalopae of Brachyura (Crustacea, Decapoda) in a South American tropical estuary

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

RESTRUCTURING of SYSTEMS and LOGISTICS of MOVEMENT and ITS IMPACT on URBAN and REGIONAL PLANNING PAULISTA

Report some of the changes in production and consumption occurring in the state of São Paulo. through the restructuring in motion systems, logistics and standards and taxation, as well as the impacts on urban spaces through new economic dynamics, imposed by the demands of corporate, is the purpose of this article. The decentralization of production and consumption towards the interior was made possible by the combination of hierarchical and ordered some basic elements such as technological innovations (ways and means of transport) and organizational (logistics, standards and taxation) which optimized the flow territorial state São Paulo. It is noteworthy, therefore: 1) the improvement of logistics as a strategy, planning and management of transport, storage and communications (including the granting of public services to private), 2) the technological improvement and expansion of motion systems (infrastructure, means of transport) and 3) the systems of rules and regulations through taxation and deregulation affect the circulatory system of a given space. Thus, both systems aims to disentangle the economic flows (goods, services, information, capital and people) and provide a more fluid territorial. The impacts on the State of São Paulo, mainly through its economic dynamics, revert positively and negatively, by changing the way one thinks and performs planning.

The copia retrotransposon and horizontal transfer in Drosophila willistoni

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)