Interface de recuperación para catálogos en línea con salidas ordenadas por probable relevancia

Se presenta el desarrollo de una interface de recuperación de información para catálogos en línea de acceso público (plataforma CDS/ISIS), basada en el concepto de similaridad para generar los resultados de una búsqueda ordenados por posible relevancia. Se expresan los fundamentos teóricos involucrados, para luego detallar la forma en que se efectuó su aplicación tecnológica, explícita a nivel de programación. Para finalizar se esbozan los problemas de implementación según el entorno.

Multi-level governance and social cohesion in the European Union: the assessment of local agents, a study case inside Galicia

Implementing multi-level governance has been a key priority in EU cohesion policy. This study assesses the perceived achievements and shortcomings in implementing European Social Fund by analyzing the deficits and weaknesses as well as the poor participation of local agents who are in direct contact with the beneficiaries in order to design and implement this fund, which is the main financial instrument of EU social policy.

Interface between Intellectual Disability and Mental Health: hermeneutic review

A literature review was conducted aiming to understand the interface between the Intellectual Disability and Mental Health fields and to contribute to mitigating the path of institutionalizing individuals with intellectual deficiencies. The so-called dual diagnosis phenomenon remains underestimated in Brazil but is the object of research and specific public policy internationally. This phenomenon alerts us to the prevalence of mental health problems in those with intellectual disabilities, limiting their social inclusion. The findings reinforce the importance of this theme and indicate possible diagnostic invisibility of the development of mental illness in those with intellectual disabilities in Brazil, which may contribute to sustaining psychiatric institutionalization of this population. 

Simultaneous identification of Trypanosoma cruzi surface and internal antigens reactive to different immunoglobulin classes (radio-immunoblotting)

A radioactive Western-blotting technique was developed by which the reactivity of Immunoglobulins (Igs) from different classes to both membrane radiolabelled and internal parasite antigens is simultaneously identified. The method includes radioiodination of parasites, polypeptide fractionation by SDS-PAGE, Western-blot transfer and autoradiography of the immunoblots developed with anti-Igs conjugates labelled with enzymes. The analysis is then performed by the comparison of common bands on the autoradiograms and the respective substrate stained nitrocellulose blots. This technique was used to analyse T. cruzi trypomastigote surface labelled antigens reactive to IgM, IgA and IgG specific antibodies. A different pattern of reactivity with acute Chagas' disease patients sera was thus obtained.

Portal cd4+ and cd8+ t lymphocyte correlate to intensity of interface hepatitis in chronic hepatitis C

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C is still a matter of debate. CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes (TL) are typically observed within the portal and periportal spaces of affected livers, but their functional role in hepatitis C progression has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: CD4+ and CD8+ TL were quantified by immunohistochemistry in portal and periportal spaces of 39 liver biopsies from patients with chronic hepatitis C. They were associated to demographic data, histological parameters, laboratory findings of patients and hepatitis C genotypes. RESULTS: There was high numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ TL from which the density of CD4+ T was higher than CD8+ TL in portal and periportal spaces. CD4+ and CD8+ TL were directly correlated to intensity of interface hepatitis. CD8+ TL correlated to serum enzyme levels. CONCLUSION: The high numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ TL in portal and periportal spaces and their correlation to interface hepatitis suggest that hepatitis C evolution depends on the action of intrahepatic T lymphocytes, lending support to the notion of an immune-mediated mechanism in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C.

Melitocoria de Zygia racemosa (Ducke) Barneby & Grimes por Melipona seminigra merrillae Cockerell, 1919 y Melipona compressipes manaosensis Schwarz, 1932 (Hymenoptera, Meliponina) en la Amazonía Central, Brasil

Durante el periodo de enero a abril de 2005 fueron encontradas semillas de Zygia racemosa, incorporadas al geoprópolis, en el interior de abejas sin aguijón en dos meliponarios experimentales en Manaus - AM. Fue observada intensa actividad de las obreras de M. seminigra merrillae y M. compressipes manaosensis llegando del campo con semillas fijas en las corbículas adheridas con resina y/o saliendo de las colonias con las semillas atrapadas en las mandíbulas. Ochenta semillas fueron recogidas en el interior de las colonias (mezcladas al geoprópolis en los basureros y fisuras) y también en el exterior, cerca de la entrada de las colonias, como resultado de la caída de esas semillas de las corbículas durante el vuelo de las obreras. Las semillas fueron plantadas en semilleros para la producción de esquejes y posterior identificación de la especie vegetal. Paralelamente se realizó el rastreo en campo en un radio de aproximadamente 3Km para la confirmación de la dispersión de las semillas, observaciones de comportamiento de las abejas forrajeando y recolección de semillas. Un total de 170 plántulas de Z. racemosa fueron encontradas en los alrededores del meliponario del GPA-INPA y 160 en el meliponario Vale Verde. Esos resultados indican que tanto M. compressipes manaosensis como M. seminigra merrillae recolectan y dispersan las semillas de Z. racemosa.

Soil mineral N dynamics beneath mixtures of leaves from legume and fruit trees in Central Amazonian multi-strata agroforests

Long term applications of leguminous green mulch could increase mineralizable nitrogen (N) beneath cupuaçu trees produced on the infertile acidic Ultisols and Oxisols of the Amazon Basin. However, low quality standing cupuaçu litter could interfere with green mulch N release and soil N mineralization. This study compared mineral N, total N, and microbial biomass N beneath cupuaçu trees grown in two different agroforestry systems, north of Manaus, Brazil, following seven years of different green mulch application rates. To test for net interactions between green mulch and cupuaçu litter, dried gliricidia and inga leaves were mixed with senescent cupuaçu leaves, surface applied to an Oxisol soil, and incubated in a greenhouse for 162 days. Leaf decomposition, N release and soil N mineralization were periodically measured in the mixed species litter treatments and compared to single species applications. The effect of legume biomass and cupuaçu litter on soil mineral N was additive implying that recommendations for green mulch applications to cupuaçu trees can be based on N dynamics of individual green mulch species. Results demonstrated that residue quality, not quantity, was the dominant factor affecting the rate of N release from leaves and soil N mineralization in a controlled environment. In the field, complex N cycling and other factors, including soil fauna, roots, and microclimatic effects, had a stronger influence on available soil N than residue quality.

Multi-temporal analysis of radiometric changes in satellite images of forest edges to infer selective-logging areas in the Amazon forest

Radiometric changes observed in multi-temporal optical satellite images have an important role in efforts to characterize selective-logging areas. The aim of this study was to analyze the multi-temporal behavior of spectral-mixture responses in satellite images in simulated selective-logging areas in the Amazon forest, considering red/near-infrared spectral relationships. Forest edges were used to infer the selective-logging infrastructure using differently oriented edges in the transition between forest and deforested areas in satellite images. TM/Landsat-5 images acquired at three dates with different solar-illumination geometries were used in this analysis. The method assumed that the radiometric responses between forest with selective-logging effects and forest edges in contact with recent clear-cuts are related. The spatial frequency attributes of red/near infrared bands for edge areas were analyzed. Analysis of dispersion diagrams showed two groups of pixels that represent selective-logging areas. The attributes for size and radiometric distance representing these two groups were related to solar-elevation angle. The results suggest that detection of timber exploitation areas is limited because of the complexity of the selective-logging radiometric response. Thus, the accuracy of detecting selective logging can be influenced by the solar-elevation angle at the time of image acquisition. We conclude that images with lower solar-elevation angles are less reliable for delineation of selecting logging.

Land cover classification of Lago Grande de Curuai floodplain (Amazon, Brazil) using multi-sensor and image fusion techniques

Given the limitations of different types of remote sensing images, automated land-cover classifications of the Amazon várzea may yield poor accuracy indexes. One way to improve accuracy is through the combination of images from different sensors, by either image fusion or multi-sensor classifications. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine which classification method is more efficient in improving land cover classification accuracies for the Amazon várzea and similar wetland environments - (a) synthetically fused optical and SAR images or (b) multi-sensor classification of paired SAR and optical images. Land cover classifications based on images from a single sensor (Landsat TM or Radarsat-2) are compared with multi-sensor and image fusion classifications. Object-based image analyses (OBIA) and the J.48 data-mining algorithm were used for automated classification, and classification accuracies were assessed using the kappa index of agreement and the recently proposed allocation and quantity disagreement measures. Overall, optical-based classifications had better accuracy than SAR-based classifications. Once both datasets were combined using the multi-sensor approach, there was a 2% decrease in allocation disagreement, as the method was able to overcome part of the limitations present in both images. Accuracy decreased when image fusion methods were used, however. We therefore concluded that the multi-sensor classification method is more appropriate for classifying land cover in the Amazon várzea.

Vaccination against schistosomiasis and fascioliasis with the new recombinant antigen Sm14: potential basis of a multi-valent anti-helminth vaccine?

Molecular cloning of components of protective antigenic preparations have suggested that related parasite fatty acid binding proteins could form the basis of the well documented protective, immune cross reactivity between the parasitic trematode worms Fasciola hepatica and Schistosoma mansoni. We have now confirmed the cross protective potential of parasite fatty acid binding proteins and suggest that it may be possible to produce a single vaccine that would be effective against at least two parasites, F. hepatica and S. mansoni of veterinary and human importance respectively.

Molecular Genetic Analysis of Multi-drug Resistance in Indian Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

A total of 116 isolates from patients attending the out-patient department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and the New Delhi Tuberculosis Centre, New Delhi, India were collected. They were analyzed for resistance to drugs prescribed in the treatment for tuberculosis. The drug resistance was initially determined by microbiological techniques. The Bactec 460TB system was employed to determine the type and level of resistance in each isolate. The isolates were further characterized at molecular level. The multi-drug loci corresponding to rpo b, gyr A, kat G were studied for mutation(s) by the polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) technique. The SSCP positive samples were sequenced to characterize the mutations in rpo b, and gyr A loci. While previously reported mutations in the gyr A and rpo b loci were found to be present, several novel mutations were also scored in the rpo b locus. Interestingly, analysis of the gyr A locus showed the presence of point mutation(s) that could not be detected by PCR-SSCP. Furthermore, rifampicin resistance was found to be an important marker for checking multi-drug resistance (MDR) in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This is the first report on molecular genetic analysis of MDR tuberculosis one from India, highlights the increasing incidence of MDR in the Indian isolates of M. tuberculosis.