Avanços na fruticultura tropical no Brasil

Os principais aspectos que marcaram a evolução técnica das culturas do abacaxizeiro, mamoeiro e maracujazeiro no Brasil foram discutidos. em abacaxizeiro, tem-se constatado uma inovação no sistema de comercialização da cv. Smooth Cayenne, que consiste no uso de caixas de papelão ondulado para o mercado interno, cujo objetivo é propiciar uma garantia de sabor inserida em uma marca. O recente lançamento de cultivares resistentes à fusariose, pela Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) (Imperial e Vitória) e IAC (Fantástico), traz novas perspectivas de produtividade. em maracujazeiro, a maior contribuição aos pomares foi dada pelo melhoramento genético, inicialmente voltado apenas para ampliação da produtividade da cultura. No início dos anos 2000, o lançamento das primeiras cultivares de maracujá - mais produtivas e com qualidade de fruta diferenciada para os dois segmentos de mercado (frutas frescas e agroindústria), transformou o cenário produtivo brasileiro. Com a criação de um sistema organizado de produção e comercialização de sementes e mudas selecionadas, ampliou-se significativamente a qualidade dos pomares. Atualmente, a disponibilidade de novas cultivares tolerantes à virose (VEFM) e cultivares regionais passou a representar um diferencial para a cultura. em mamoeiro, destaca-se a ocorrência do Mosaico do Mamoeiro (Monte Alto-SP, 1967), que determinou a migração da cultura pelo Estado e sua expulsão para outros estados, até sua fixação na Bahia e no Espírito Santo, os maiores produtores nacionais. Comparam-se as técnicas utilizadas nos diferentes períodos de produção, antes e depois do surgimento do mosaico, que permitiram ao Brasil lançar-se no mercado externo, tornando-se o maior exportador mundial de mamão, com lavouras produtivas e frutos de ótima qualidade. Nesta evolução, soma-se a contribuição do melhoramento genético, que disponibilizou sementes de alta qualidade, com reflexos nas práticas culturais e de propagação. São apresentadas de colheita e de pós-colheita diferenciadas que resultaram em melhorias no padrão de qualidade das frutas exportadas para o mercado europeu e norte-americano.

Ração suplementada com vitaminas C e E influencia a resposta inflamatória aguda em tilápia do Nilo

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

Sex Determination and Female Reproductive Development in the GenuSchistosoma: A Review

Os parasitas do gênero Schistosoma situam-se entre os primeiros metazoários que desenvolveram sexos separados, determinado cromossomicamente no ovo fertilizado. Apesar da ocorrência de cromossomos sexuais específicos, as fêmeas de Schistosoma não atingem a maturidade somática e sexual sem a presença dos machos. Na verdade, um dos aspectos mais controversos e, ao mesmo tempo, mais fascinantes, envolvendo o desenvolvimento sexual das fêmeas está em se desvendar a natureza do estímulo que controla e mantém tal processo. Muito embora a natureza do estímulo (físico ou químico) seja motivo de controvérsia, concordam os mais diferentes autores que o acasalamento é um requisito indispensável para que ocorra a maturação e migração das fêmeas para o sítio definitivo de permanência no sistema vascular do hospedeiro vertebrado. Admite-se, ainda, que o estímulo não é espécie-específico e, em alguns casos, nem mesmo gênero-específico. Não obstante a existência de um número considerável de artigos dedicados ao tema, não há um consenso sobre o processo (ou processos) que controla(m) o encontro de machos e fêmeas no sistema circulatório do hospedeiro vertebrado, bem como está por ser determinada a natureza do estímulo, oriundo dos machos, que controla e mantém o desenvolvimento somático e sexual das fêmeas. Ao longo dos anos os machos de Schistosoma têm sido considerados, por vezes pejorativamente, os irmãos, os músculos ou o fígado das fêmeas. em síntese, resta saber se a natureza do estímulo responsável pelo desenvolvimento das fêmas envolve a transferência de hormônios, nutrientes, a mera estimulação tátil ou a combinação de dois ou mais desses fatores

Uranium in groundwaters from Botucatu-Piramboia aquifer, Brazil

Groundwater from 60 pumped tubular wells of the Botucatu-Piramboia aquifer system located at the Parana sedimentary basin in Brazil were chemically analysed with the aim of evaluating if the mechanisms related to the migration of uranium can generate concentrations greater than the maximum permissible limit in drinking water, as defined by the Brazilian national standards.

Uranium speciation in groundwaters from Parana basin, Brazil

This paper describes the results of a regional study involving the sampling of 60 pumped tubular wells drilled at the Parana sedimentary basin, Brazil, which was carried out with the purpose of evaluating the U speciation in the Botucatu-Piramboia aquifer. Uranium proved to be intensively dissolved even under the enhanced reducing conditions occurring at the most confined zones of the aquifer, and Eh-pH diagrams were utilized to evaluate the influence of temperature and pressure on the migration of the U-species within the aquifer.

A possible stellar metallic enhancement in post-T Tauri stars by a planetesimal bombardment

The photospheres of stars hosting planets have larger metallicity than stars lacking planets. This could be the result of a metallic star contamination produced by the bombarding of hydrogen-deficient solid bodies. In the present work we study the possibility of an earlier metal enrichment of the photospheres by means of impacting planetesimals during the first 20-30 Myr. Here we explore this contamination process by simulating the interactions of an inward migrating planet with a disc of planetesimal interior to its orbit. The results show the percentage of planetesimals that fall on the star. We identified the dependence of the planet's eccentricity (e(p)) and time-scale of migration (tau) on the rate of infalling planetesimals. For very fast migrations (tau= 10(2) and 10(3) yr) there is no capture in mean motion resonances, independently of the value of e(p). Then, due to the planet's migration the planetesimals suffer close approaches with the planet and more than 80 per cent of them are ejected from the system. For slow migrations (tau= 10(5)and 10(6) yr) the percentage of collisions with the planet decreases with the increase of the planet's eccentricity. For e(p) = 0 and 0.1 most of the planetesimals were captured in the 2:1 resonance and more than 65 per cent of them collided with the star. Whereas migration of a Jupiter mass planet to very short pericentric distances requires unrealistic high disc masses, these requirements are much smaller for smaller migrating planets. Our simulations for a slowly migrating 0.1 M-Jupiter planet, even demanding a possible primitive disc three times more massive than a primitive solar nebula, produces maximum [Fe/H] enrichments of the order of 0.18 dex. These calculations open possibilities to explain hot Jupiter exoplanet metallicities.

Dermal mast cell counts in F2 Holstein x Gir crossbred cattle artificially infested with the tick Boophilus microplus (Acari : Ixodidae)

The role of dermal mast cells (DMC) in the host resistance to ticks has been studied but it is not totally explained yet. Studies have proposed that zebuine cattle breeds, known as highly resistant to ticks, have more DMC than taurine breeds. In the present study, we compared the number of adult female ticks Boophilus microplus and the mast cells' countings in the skin of F-2 crossbred Gir x Holstein cattle, before and after tick infestation. F-2 crossbred cattle (n = 148) were divided into seven groups and artificially infested with 1.0 x 10(4) B. nticroplus larvae and, 21 days afterwards, adult female-fed ticks attached to the skin were counted. Skin biopsies were taken and examined under light microscopy with a square-lined ocular reticulum in a total area of 0.0625 mm(2) in both the superficial and deep dermis. Results demonstrated that infested F-2 crossbred cattle acquired resistance against the cattle-tick B. microplus probably associated to an increase in the dermal mast cell number. It is concluded that the tick infestation may lead to an environmental modification in the dermis of parasitized hosts due to the massive migration of mast cells or their local proliferation.

Inflammatory response to different endodontic irrigating solutions

Aim the aim of this study was to evaluate the inflammatory response to irrigating solutions injected into the peritoneal cavity of mice.Methodology Sixty mice received intra-peritoneal injections of 0.3 mL of 0.5% sodium hypochlorite, 2.0% chlorhexidine digluconate or phosphate buffered saline (PBS, control). Five animals of each group were sacrificed at 4, 24, 48 h and 7 days after the injection. Liquid from the peritoneal cavity of each animal was collected for the total and differential counting of inflammatory cells and protein leakage.Results the 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution group had greater migration of neutrophils and mononuclear cells to the peritoneal cavity from 48 to 168 h (P < 0.05). There was a significant increase in protein leakage to the peritoneal cavity after 4 up to 48 h in the 0.5% sodium hypochlorite group compared to the control group. Protein leakage was similar in all groups at 168 h. The 2.0% chlorhexidine group had similar results to the control group at all time periods.Conclusions the 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution induced an inflammatory response, however, the 2.0% chlorhexidine digluconate solution did not induce a significant inflammatory response.

SOLIDS COATED WITH SODIUM TETRACHLOROPALLADATE - SORBENTS FOR REDUCED SULFUR-COMPOUNDS IN AIR

A study of the preconcentration of tioethers in air by means of the passage of gas flow on solid sorbents coated with sodium tetrachloropalladate was undertaken with the aim of achieving chemical fixation. This fixation presented high specificity and blocked the migration of the sorbed compound through the other active sites. The species obtained were selectively dissolved in organic solvents, resulting in the sulfur reduced compound concentration in the organic phase, which could be determined spectrophotometrically.

Electrical relaxation in proton conductor composites based on (NH4)H2PO4/TiO2

We report on electrical relaxation measurements of (1-x)NH4H2PO4-xTiO(2) (x = 0.1) composites by admittance spectroscopy, in the 40-Hz-5-MHz frequency range and at temperatures between 303 and 563 K. Simultaneous thermal and electrical measurements on the composites identify a stable crystalline phase between 373 and 463 K. The real part of the conductivity, sigma', shows a power-law frequency dependence below 523 K, which is well described by Jonscher's expression sigma' = sigma(0)(1 + (omega/omega(p))(n)), where sigma(0) is the dc conductivity, omega(p)/2 pi = f(p) is a characteristic relaxation frequency, and n is a fractional exponent between 0 and 1. Both sigma(0) and f(p) are thermally activated with nearly the same activation energy in the II region, indicating that the dispersive conductivity originates from the migration of protons. However, activation energies decrease from 0.55 to 0.35 eV and n increases toward 1.0, as the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles increases, thus, enhancing cooperative correlation among moving ions. The highest dc conductivity is obtained for the composite x = 0.05 concentration, with values above room temperature about three orders of magnitude higher than that of crystalline NH4H2PO4 (ADP), reaching values on the order of 0.1 (Omega cm)(-1) above 543 K.

Caso alóctone de leishmaniose visceral canina, no município de Campo Mourão, Paraná, Brasil

This report aims to describe the first case allochthonous of visceral leishmanisasis (VL) in the municipality of Campo Mourao, Parana, Brazil, in a canine, Boxer breed, with eye and skin lesions, lymphadenomegaly and splenomegaly, attended at Veterinary Hospital at the Faculdade Integrado de Campo Mourao, after residing in the city of Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. The diagnosis of the disease was based on direct observation of amastigotes of Leishmania spp., in popliteal lymph nodes, suggesting that a case of VL, since the animal came from an endemic area for the disease. The migration of infected dogs from endemic regions to areas unaffected becomes a problem for public health, since it may allow the installation of new outbreaks by encouraging the spread of disease throughout the country.