Trends in Brazilian academic production in the History of Mathematics Education: directions from EBRAPEM

The number of papers on History of Mathematics Education presented at EBRAPEM (Brazilian Meeting of Graduate Students in Mathematics Education) has increased significantly between 2003 and 2008. This article presents a study with the aim of identifying themes, periods in focus, and sources and theoretical and methodological references used by the authors of the papers on History of Mathematics Education published in the proceedings of VII, VIII, IX, X, XI and XII EBRAPEM. The study indicates that the approach of ongoing research in History of Mathematics Education in Brazil has been similar to the approach of research in History of Education in general. However, the institutional separation between these two areas of investigation is noted as a factor rendering communication between both groups of researchers difficult.

Quantitative estimates of time-averaging in terebratulid brachiopod shell accumulations from a modern tropical shelf

Quantitative estimates of time-averaging in marine shell accumulations available to date are limited primarily to aragonitic mollusk shells. We assessed time-averaging in Holocene assemblages of calcitic brachiopod shells by direct dating of individual specimens of the terebratulid brachiopod Bouchardia rosea. The data were collected from exceptional (brachiopod-rich) shell assemblages, occurring surficially on a tropical mixed carbonate-siliciclastic shelf (the Southeast Brazilian Bight, SW Atlantic), a setting that provides a good climatic and environmental analog for many Paleozoic brachiopod shell beds of North America and Europe. A total of 82 individual brachiopod shells, collected from four shallow (5-25 m) nearshore (<2.5 km from the shore) localities, were dated by using amino acid racemization (D-alloisoleucine/L-isoleucine value) calibrated with five AMS-radiocarbon dates (r(2) = 0.933). This is the first study to demonstrate that amino acid racemization methods can provide accurate and precise ages for individual shells of calcitic brachiopods.The dated shells vary in age from modern to 3000 years, with a standard deviation of 690 years. The age distribution is strongly right-skewed: the young shells dominate the dated specimens and older shells are increasingly less common. However, the four localities display significant differences in the range of time-averaging and the form of the age distribution. The dated shells vary notably in the quality of preservation, but there is no significant correlation between taphonomic condition and age, either for individual shells or at assemblage level.These results demonstrate that fossil brachiopods may show considerable time-averaging, but the scale and nature of that mixing may vary greatly among sites. Moreover, taphonomic condition is not a reliable indicator of pre-burial history of individual brachiopod shells or the scale of temporal mixing within the entire assemblage. The results obtained for brachiopods are strikingly similar to results previously documented for mollusks and suggest that differences in mineralogy and shell microstructure are unlikely to be the primary factors controlling the nature and scale of time-averaging. Environmental factors and local fluctuations in populations of shell-producing organisms are more likely to be the principal determinants of time-averaging in marine benthic shelly assemblages. The long-term survival of brachiopod shells is incongruent with the rapid shell destruction observed in taphonomic experiments. The results support the taphonomic model that shells remain protected below (but perhaps near) the surface through their early taphonomic history. They may be brought back up to the surface intermittently by bioturbation and physical reworking, but only for short periods of time. This model explains the striking similarities in time-averaging among different types of organisms and the lack of correlation between time-since-death and shell taphonomy.

Khoisan hunter-gatherers have been the largest population throughout most of modern-human demographic history

The Khoisan people from Southern Africa maintained ancient lifestyles as hunter-gatherers or pastoralists up to modern times, though little else is known about their early history. Here we infer early demographic histories of modern humans using whole-genome sequences of five Khoisan individuals and one Bantu speaker. Comparison with a 420 K SNP data set from worldwide individuals demonstrates that two of the Khoisan genomes from the Ju/'hoansi population contain exclusive Khoisan ancestry. Coalescent analysis shows that the Khoisan and their ancestors have been the largest populations since their split with the non-Khoisan population similar to 100-150 kyr ago. In contrast, the ancestors of the non-Khoisan groups, including Bantu-speakers and non-Africans, experienced population declines after the split and lost more than half of their genetic diversity. Paleoclimate records indicate that the precipitation in southern Africa increased similar to 80-100 kyr ago while west-central Africa became drier. We hypothesize that these climate differences might be related to the divergent-ancient histories among human populations.

The history of the introduction of the giant river prawn, Macrobrachium cf. rosenbergii (Decapoda, Palaemonidae), in Brazil: new insights from molecular data

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

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.

Evolution of representation of the hands in plastic arts

A interação entre arte e ciência foi intensa durante o Renascimento, sofrendo declínio nos anos posteriores com retomada significativa no século XX, principalmente com o uso de técnicas de identificação, datação de obras de arte e o desenvolvimento de novos materiais. O relacionamento entre artes plásticas e Cirurgia da Mão mantêm-se intenso , sendo freqüente o uso de reproduções artísticas da mão nas ilustrações de textos científicos. Objetivando compreender o papel da mão nas artes plásticas, reproduções de obras de artes (esculturas e pinturas) representativas de vários estilos ou períodos da história da arte foram analisadas com enfoque no estudo das mãos. Detalhes anatômicos, relacionamento com outras estruturas do corpo humano, papel na composição e aspectos simbólicos das mãos foram estudados no contexto histórico e artístico de obras de arte do período paleolítico (pré-história) até o século XX. A representação da mão nas artes plásticas está diretamente relacionada ao estilo ou período da obra e à capacidade individual de interpretação e execução do artista.

Prevalence and predictors of ventricular remodeling after anterior myocardial infarction in the era of modern medical therapy

Background: The consequences of aggressive therapy following a myocardial infarction (MI) on ventricular remodeling are not well established. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and predictors of left ventricular remodeling in the era of modern medical therapy.Material/Methods: Clinical characteristics and echocardiographic data were analyzed in 66 consecutive patients with anterior infarction at admission and at 6-month follow-up. Ventricular remodeling was defined as an increase of 10% in ventricular end-systolic or end-diastolic diameter.Results: In our study, 58% of patients presented with ventricular remodeling. Patients with remodeling possessed higher total plasma creatine kinase (CPK), MB-fraction (CPK-MB), heart rate, heart failure, shortness of breath, and reperfusion therapy than patients without remodeling. In contrast, patients with remodeling had a smaller ejection fraction, E-Wave deceleration time (EDT), and early (E' Wave) and late (A' Wave) diastolic mitral annulus velocity (average of septal and lateral walls), but a higher E/E' than patients without remodeling. Patients with remodeling used more diuretics, digoxin, oral anticoagulants and aldosterone antagonists than patients without remodeling. In the multivariate analyses, only E' Wave was an independent predictor of ventricular remodeling. Each 1 unit increase in the E' Wave was associated with a 59% increased odds of ventricular remodeling.Conclusions: In patients with anterior MI, despite contemporary treatment, ventricular remodeling is still a common event. In addition, diastolic function can have an important role as a predictor of remodeling in this scenario.

DNA damage in cytologically normal urothelial cells of patients with a history of urothelial cell carcinoma

In order to determine if patients with a history of previous urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) but with current normal urinary cytology have DNA damage in urothelial cells, the single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay was conducted with cells obtained by urinary bladder washings from 44 patients (28 with a history of previous UCC). Increased DNA damage was observed in cytologically normal urothelial cells of patients with a history of UCC when compared with referents with no similar history and after correcting the data for smoking status and age (P < 0.018). Increased DNA damage also correlated with the highest tumor grade, irrespective of time or course of the disease after clinical intervention (Kendall tau correlation, 0.37, P = 0.016). Moreover, aneuploidy, as assessed by DNA content ratio (DCR; 75th/25th percentile of total DNA fluorescence of 50 comets/patient) was unaltered by smoking status, but increased with UCC grade: 1.39 +/- 0.12 (median +/- 95% confidence interval; referents); 1.43 +/- 0.11 (Grade I UCC; P = 0.264, against referents); 1.49 +/- 0.16 (Grade II UCC; P = 0.057); 1.57 +/- 0.16 (Grade III UCC; P = 0.003). Micronucleated urothelial cells (MNC) were also scored on Giemsa-stained routine cytological smears and were found not to correlate with DNA damage or DCR. MNC frequencies were higher for patients with a history of UCC and/or smoking than referents with neither history, but there was no statistical difference between groups. Taken together, these results suggest that the normal-appearing urothelium of patients resected for UCC still harbor genetically unstable cells. (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Equine neosporosis: search for antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid and sera from animals with history of ataxia

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Natural history of the South American water snake Helicops leopardinus (Colubridae : Hydropsini) in the pantanal, Central Brazil

The South American water snake Helicops leopardinus is very abundant in the Pantanal wetlands of Central Brazil. We studied the biology of this species based on specimens collected by local workers in the Paraguay River. Females attained greater body lengths and had larger heads than males, but the latter had longer tails. Helicops leopardinus fed on a wide variety of fishes (70% of the total prey items) and frogs, with fishes of the order Gymnotiformes (33.34%) and frogs of the family Hylidae (23.34%) representing the most common prey items. There was relatively lows diet overlap between the sexes and between juveniles and adults. Mean litter size was 6.6 and ranged from 4-11. The reproductive cycle was seasonal, with birth occurring late in the wet season (simultaneous with the flooding of the Paraguay River), facilitating dispersal of young snakes by floating vegetation. Floating vegetation may be a critical habitat for H. leopardinus, and management plans for their maintenance need to be developed.

Evolutionary history of Scinax treefrogs on land-bridge islands in south-eastern Brazil

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

Is the evolutionary history of the O-type P element in the saltans and willistoni groups of Drosophila similar to that of the canonical P element?

We studied the occurrence of O-type P elements in at least one species of each subgroup of the saltans group, in order to better understand the phylogenetic relationships among the elements within the saltans group and with those of species belonging to the willistoni group. We found that the O-type subfamily has a patchy distribution within the saltans group (it does not occur in D. neocordata and D. emarginata), low sequence divergence among species of the saltans group as well as in relation to species of the willistoni group, a lower rate of synonymous substitution for coding sequences compared to Adh, and phylogenetic incongruities. These findings suggest that the evolutionary history of the O-type subfamily within the saltans and willistoni groups follows the same model proposed for the canonical subfamily of P elements, i.e., events of horizontal transfer between species of the saltans and willistoni groups.

Comparative analysis of drilling frequencies in recent brachiopod-mollusk associations from the Southern Brazilian Shelf

Over 14,000 specimens-5,204 brachiopods, 9,137 bivalves, and 178 gastropods-acquired from 30 collecting stations (0 to 45 m depth) in the Ubatuba and Picinguaba bays, southern Brazil, were compared for drilling frequencies. Beveled (countersunk) circular-to-subcircular borings (Oichnus-like drill holes) were found in diverse bivalves but also in the rhynchonelliform brachiopod Bouchardia rosea-a small, semi-infaunal to epifaunal, free-lying species that dominates the brachiopod fauna of the southern Brazilian shelf. Drill holes in bivalve mollusks and brachiopods are comparable in their morphology, average diameter, and diameter range, indicating attacks by a single type of drilling organism. Drill holes in brachiopods were rare (0.4%) and found only at five sampling sites. Drillings in bivalves were over 10 times as frequent as in brachiopods, but the average drilling frequency was still low (5.6%) compared to typical boring frequencies of Cenozoic mollusks. Some common bivalve species, however, were drilled at frequencies up to 50 times higher than those observed for shells of B. rosea from the same samples. Due to scarcity of drilled brachiopods, it is not possible to evaluate if the driller displayed a nonrandom (stereotyped) site, size, or valve preference. Drilled brachiopods may record (1) naticid or muricid predation, (2) predation by other drillers, (3) parasitic drillings, and (4) mistaken or opportunistic attacks. Low drilling frequency in brachiopods is consistent with recent reports on ancient and modern examples. The scarcity of drilling in brachiopods, coupled with much higher drilling frequencies observed in sympatric bivalves, suggests that drilling in brachiopods may have been due to facultative or erroneous attacks. The drilling frequencies observed here for the brachiopod-bivalve assemblages are remarkably similar to those reported for Permian brachiopod-bivalves associations. This report adds to the growing evidence for an intriguing macroecological stasis: multiple meta-analytical surveys of present-day and fossil rhynchonelliform brachiopods conducted in recent years also point to persistent scarcity and low intensity of biotic interactions between brachiopods and drilling organisms throughout their evolutionary history.