Baixa diversidade de zooplâncton na desembocadura de uma represa eutrófica (SP, Brasil): reflexo da poluição?

The Tiete River (in São Paulo state) receives most of the efuents of the metropolitan region of São Paulo; and the Barra Bonita reservoir, 200 km distant downstream, receives and recycle most of that pollution load. This work studied the ecological features of the zooplankton (Rotifera, Cladocera and Copepoda) sampled in a point of Tiete River's mouth. Monthly samples were collected, from April, 2001 to February, 2008. The hypothesis currently tested was that the composition and availability of zooplankton were similar to the others reservoir regions (middle and lacustrine sensu Thornton) and to other reservoirs of the Upper Parana River basin, supporting the idea that these organisms manage to stand the strong pollution. The reservoir shows a typical variation of accumulation, with wide variation of seasonal altimetric grading and large fow in the rainy pe- riod, infuenced by the rainfall regime, with efects upon zooplankton assemblage. As a whole, 24 species were registered: 12 Rotifera, 8 Cladocera and 4 Copepoda. Data showed that the hypothesis formulated must be rejected, due the variation trends of zooplankton environmental attributes not being regular, with relatively high abundance values for a lotic environment in specifc months, and low organism abundance or absence in other months. Those facts can be attributed to pollution efects conducting to low dissolved oxygen concentration (> 4mg.l-1) in some months, which causes the zooplankton community to be very much afected. [K]

Uso de macroalgas para avaliação da Poluição orgânica no Rio Preto, noroeste do estado de São Paulo.

The Preto River, located in the northwest of São Paulo State, receives a total wastewater load of 15.150 kg DBO day-1, from which 13.685 kg DBO day-1 (90.5%) corresponds to domestic sewage, and the city of São José do Rio Preto contributes with 12.400 kg DBO day-1 (90% of domestic sewage). During the period from August 1990 through January 1991, monthly sampling was carried out to evaluate the use of macroalgae as bioindicator of organic pollution. Five sampling sites were established along the main river and the following variables were analised: temperature, conductance, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, BOD, COD, total and fecal coliforms, and composition and abundance of macroalgal communities. Data were submitted to analysis of variance, correlation coefficient, cluster analysis (four different approaches) and converted to biological indices (species deficit, relative pollution, saprobity, diversity and uniformity indices). A wide range in water quality was found (particularly for conductance, oxygen, BOD and COD) among the sampling sites, which were classified into three groups (polluted, moderately polluted and unpolluted/weakly polluted). As regards the occurrence and abundance of macroalgae the Rhodophyta were found only in unpolluted or weakly polluted sites, whereas Cyanophyta occurred mostly under high pollution load; the Chlorophyta species were observed under a wide range of conditions. Among the biological indices, saprobity was the most sensitive and correlated to all water variables and the other indices. Cluster analyses showed that the composition of macroalgal communities was consistent with the levels of organic pollution in the Preto River.

Aplicação da técnica de condicionamento total ou de primers autocondicionantes em dentes decíduos após abrasão a ar

Since the use of air abrasion has grown in pediatric dentistry, the aim of this study was to evaluate, by means of shear bond strength testing, the need to use the total etching technique or self-etching primers on dentin of primary teeth after air abrasion. Twenty-five exfoliated primary molars had their occlusal dentin exposed by trimming and polishing. Specimens were treated by: Air abrasion + Scotchbond MultiPurpose adhesive (G1); 37% phosphoric acid + Scotchbond MP adhesive (G2); Clearfil SE (G3); Air abrasion ( 37% phosphoric acid + Scotchbond MP adhesive (G4); Air abrasion + Clearfil SE (G5). On the treated surface, a cylinder of 2 mm by 6 mm was made using a composite resin (Z100). Duncan's test showed that: (G2 = G3 = G5) > (G1 = G4). The use of a selfetching primer on air abraded dentin is recommended to obtain higher bond strengths.

Emprego do reagente de fenton como agente coagulante na remoção de substâncias húmicas de água por meio da flotação por ar dissolvido e filtração

Fenton 's reagent was used as coagulant agent to treat water with high true color (100 ± 5 HU) caused by the introduction of humic substances extracted from peat, using dissolved air flotation. The pair value of coagulant dosage x coagulation pH was optimized to posterior construction of coagulation diagrams, reaching apparent color removal efficiency slightly superior to 60%. It was tried to simulate a treatment with complete cycle, carrying out an experiment with sand filtration after flotation, obtaining an effluent with excellent quality, presenting remnant apparent color, turbidity and absorbance of 253.7 nm less or equal to 2 HU, 0.40 TU and 0.009 cm -1, respectively, and residual total iron < 0.005 mg/L and DOC < 0.001 mg/L.

Shorter CAG repeat in the AR gene is associated with atypical hyperplasia and breast carcinoma

Background: Previous reports into the role of [CAG]n repeat lengths in the androgen receptor (AR) gene indicate that these may play an important part in the development and progression of breast cancer, however, knowledge regarding benign breast lesions is limited. Patients and Methods: PCR-based GeneScan analysis was used to investigate the [CAG]n repeat length at exon 1 of the AR gene in 59 benign breast lesions (27 fibroadenomas, 18 atypical hyperplasias, and 14 hyperplasias without atypia) and 54 ductal breast carcinomas. Seventy-two cancer-free women were used as a control group. In addition, [CAG]n repeats were evaluated for the presence of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) in a subset of these samples (27 fibroadenomas, 14 hyperplasias without atypia and 22 breast carcinomas). Results: Shorter [CAG]n repeat lengths were strongly correlated with atypical hyperplasias (p=0.0209) and carcinomas (p<0.0001). LOH was found in 1/12 and 4/20 informative cases of hyperplasias without atypia and breast carcinomas, respectively. Three patients with breast carcinoma who had previously presented atypical hyperplasia showed a reduction in the [CAG]n repeat length in their carcinomas. Conclusion: Short [CAG]n repeat length (≤20) polymorphisms are strongly associated with breast carcinomas and atypical hyperplasias. Although non-significant, a subgroup of patients with breast carcinoma and genotype SS showed an association with parameters of worse outcome.

Damage detection in a benchmark structure using AR-ARX models and statistical pattern recognition

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is related to the ability of monitoring the state and deciding the level of damage or deterioration within aerospace, civil and mechanical systems. In this sense, this paper deals with the application of a two-step auto-regressive and auto-regressive with exogenous inputs (AR-ARX) model for linear prediction of damage diagnosis in structural systems. This damage detection algorithm is based on the. monitoring of residual error as damage-sensitive indexes, obtained through vibration response measurements. In complex structures there are. many positions under observation and a large amount of data to be handed, making difficult the visualization of the signals. This paper also investigates data compression by using principal component analysis. In order to establish a threshold value, a fuzzy c-means clustering is taken to quantify the damage-sensitive index in an unsupervised learning mode. Tests are made in a benchmark problem, as proposed by IASC-ASCE with different damage patterns. The diagnosis that was obtained showed high correlation with the actual integrity state of the structure. Copyright © 2007 by ABCM.

Avaliação dos dados decendiais de precipitação e temperatura máxima e mínima do ar simulados pelo modelo ECMWF para o estado de São Paulo

The weather and climate has a direct influence in agriculture, it affects all stages of farming, since soil preparation to harvest. Meteorological data derived from automatic or conventional weather stations are used to monitor these effects. These meteorological data has problems like difficulty of data access and low density of meteorological stations in Brazil. Meteorological data from atmospheric models, such as ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast) can be an alternative. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare 10-day period precipitation, maximum and minimum air temperature data from the ECMWF model with interpolated maps from 33 weather stations in Sao Paulo state between 2005 and 2010 and generate statistical maps pixel by pixel. Statistical index showed spatially satisfactory (most of the results with R 2 > 0.60, d > 0.7, RMSE < 5°C and < 50 mm; Es < 5°C and < 24 mm) in period and ECMWF model can be recommended for use in the Sao Paulo state.

Structural Health Monitoring based on AR models and PZT sensors

This paper presents a new approach for damage detection in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems, which is based on the Electromechanical Impedance (EMI) principle and Autoregressive (AR) models. Typical applications of EMI in SHM are based on computing the Frequency Response Function (FRF). In this work the procedure is based on the EMI principle but the results are determined through the coefficients of AR models, which are computed from the time response of PZT transducers bonded to the monitored structure, and acting as actuator and sensors at the same time. The procedure is based on exciting the PZT transducers using a wide band chirp signal and getting its time response. The AR models are obtained in both healthy and damaged conditions and used to compute statistics indexes. Practical tests were carried out in an aluminum plate and the results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2012 IEEE.

NF-kB overexpression and decreased immunoexpression of AR in the muscular layer is related to structural damages and apoptosis in cimetidine-treated rat vas deferens

Background: Cimetidine, histamine H2 receptors antagonist, has caused adverse effects on the male hormones and reproductive tract due to its antiandrogenic effect. In the testes, peritubular myoid cells and muscle vascular cells death has been associated to seminiferous tubules and testicular microvascularization damages, respectively. Either androgen or histamine H2 receptors have been detected in the mucosa and smooth muscular layer of vas deferens. Thus, the effect of cimetidine on this androgen and histamine-dependent muscular duct was morphologically evaluated.Methods: The animals from cimetidine group (CMTG; n=5) received intraperitoneal injections of 100 mg/kg b.w. of cimetidine for 50 days; the control group (CG) received saline solution. The distal portions of vas deferens were fixed in formaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. Massońs trichrome-stained sections were subjected to morphological and the following morphometrical analyzes: epithelial perimeter and area of the smooth muscular layer. TUNEL (Terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling) method, NF-kB (nuclear factor kappa B) and AR (androgen receptors) immunohistochemical detection were also carried out. The birefringent collagen of the muscular layer was quantified in picrosirius red-stained sections under polarized light. The muscular layer was also evaluated under Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).Results: In CMTG, the mucosa of vas deferens was intensely folded; the epithelial cells showed numerous pyknotic nuclei and the epithelial perimeter and the area of the muscular layer decreased significantly. Numerous TUNEL-labeled nuclei were found either in the epithelial cells, mainly basal cells, or in the smooth muscle cells which also showed typical features of apoptosis under TEM. While an enhanced NF-kB immunoexpression was found in the cytoplasm of muscle cells, a weak AR immunolabeling was detected in these cells. In CMTG, no significant difference was observed in the birefringent collagen content of the muscular layer in comparison to CG.Conclusions: Cimetidine induces significant damages in the epithelium; a possible antiandrogenic effect on the basal cells turnover should be considered. The cimetidine-induced muscle cells apoptosis confirms the susceptibility of these cells to this drug. The parallelism between enhanced cytoplasmic NF-kB immunolabeling in the damaged muscular tissue and muscle cell apoptosis suggests that this drug may avoid the translocation of NF-kB to the nucleus and interfere in the control of NF-kB-mediated smooth muscle cell apoptosis. The decreased immunoexpression of ARs verified in the damaged muscular tissue reinforces this possibility. © 2013 Koshimizu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Assistência de ar e aplicação em volume baixo no controle da ferrugem asiática da soja (Phakopsora pachyrhizi Sydon & Sydon

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Assistência de ar e volumes de pulverização na deposição de gotas e controle do arroz vermelho (Oryza sativa L.)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Efeitos do preenchimento do balonete do tubo traqueal com ar ou lidocaína a 2% alcalinizada na pressão do balonete e na morbidade laringotraqueal durante anestesia com óxido nitroso

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

AR | RA: a arte na realidade aumentada

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação da genotoxicidade e mutagenicidade das águas dos rios Jaguari, Atibaia e Piracicaba, na região de influência da refinaria de Paulínia - SP

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