THE PEAR TREE RESPONSE TO PHOSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM FERTILIZATION

The aim of this study was to evaluate the response to phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilization and to establish the critical levels of P and K in the soil and in the plant tissue in pear trees. Two experiments were conducted in São Joaquim (SC), Brazil. In experiment 1, the plants received annually the application of increasing rates of phosphate fertilizer (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg P2O5 ha-1), while in experiment 2, increasing rates of potassium fertilizer (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg K2O ha-1) were applied annually. In the two experiments, soil was collected annually from the 0-10, 10-20 and 0-20 cm layers, and the available P (experiment 1) and exchangeable K (experiment 2) content was analyzed. Whole leaves were collected annually, which were subjected to analysis of total P (experiment 1) and total K (experiment 2) content. The number and weight of the fruits per plant and fruit yield were evaluated. Application of P on the soil planted with pear trees increased the nutrient content in the soil and, in most crop seasons, in the whole leaf, but it did not affect the yield components and fruit yield. The application of K on the soil with pear trees increased the nutrient content in the soil and, in most of the crop seasons, in the whole leaf, but the potassium content in the whole leaf decreased in the crop season with greater fruit yield. The yield components and fruit yield were not affected by K fertilization.

Aplicação da ressonância magnética de corpo inteiro para o estadiamento e acompanhamento de pacientes com linfoma de Hodgkin na faixa etária infanto-juvenil: comparação entre diferentes sequências

OBJETIVO: Comparar o desempenho das sequências T1, T2, STIR e DWIBS (difusão de corpo inteiro com supressão do sinal de fundo) na identificação de sítios caracterizados como acometidos pelo linfoma de Hodgkin nas cadeias linfonodais, órgãos parenquimatosos e medula óssea, e avaliar a concordância entre os examinadores. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Foram estudados 12 pacientes com diagnóstico confirmado de linfoma de Hodgkin. Os pacientes foram encaminhados para o exame de ressonância magnética, sendo realizadas as sequências ponderadas em T1, T2, STIR e DWIBS. RESULTADOS: O número de sítios linfonodais caracterizados como acometidos nas sequências ponderadas em T1 e T2 apresentaram resultados semelhantes (8 sítios), mas inferiores às sequências STIR e DWIBS (11 e 12 sítios, respectivamente). Quanto ao acometimento da medula óssea, observaram-se os mesmos valores para as sequências T1, T2 e DWIBS (17 lesões), superiores ao valor encontrado na sequência STIR (13 lesões). Quando realizada a comparação entre os examinadores, nota-se que há alta concordância entre as quatro sequências. CONCLUSÃO: As sequências STIR e DWIBS detectaram maior número de linfonodos caracterizados como acometidos. Todas as sequências apresentaram resultados semelhantes na avaliação dos órgãos parenquimatosos e medula óssea. Em todas as sequências analisadas houve alta concordância entre os examinadores.

Aspiration pneumonia in children: an iconographic essay

Abstract In most cases of aspiration pneumonia in children, the disease is specific to this age group. Clinical and radiological correlation is essential for the diagnosis. The present pictorial essay is aimed at showing typical images of the most common etiologies.

Los electrodos de pasta de carbono en el estudio electroquímico de minerales metálicos

This paper shows the applicability of the carbon paste electrode-mineral (CPE-mineral) to study the dissolution mechanisms of minerals in powder form and in flotation concentrates. A potentiodynamic strategy to find the dissolution mechanism of galena (PbS) is presented. In this way, minerals less studied such as orpiment (As2S3) and realgar (As2S2) are investigated. The electrochemical activity of a more complicated mineral such as sphalerite (ZnS), containing 12.3 and 0.43% of iron in solid solution, is discussed. The mechanism of a complex zinc concentrate (containing 63.4% ZnS, 20.1% FeS2, 5% CuFeS2, 0.33% PbS, 0.45% Cu12Sb4S13 and 0.4% FeAsS) is described. Finally, an electrochemical method for the detection of the different leachable and refractory silver phases (contained in two mineral concentrates) is presented. This paper reviews the power of the use of CPE-mineral coupled to electrochemical techniques in hydrometallurgy.

Evaluación de accesiones cubanas de papaya (Carica papaya L.) ante la mancha anular

Se colectaron en diferentes regiones de Cuba semillas de las accesiones de papayo Tallo Morado de Nava, Amarilla de Duaba, Amarilla de Nava y Sapote de Pilón. Estas se plantaron en condiciones de campo en Jagüey Grande, Matanzas - Cuba, donde se evaluó la presencia e intensidad de síntomas de mancha anular, siguiendo una escala graduada del 1 al 5. Los resultados mostraron un incremento temporal de la proporción de plantas afectadas en todas las accesiones. La accesión Amarilla de Duaba mostró los síntomas a los dos meses después de la primera evaluación (MDPE), mientras que el resto lo hizo a los cinco MDPE, aunque con proporciones que variaron entre ellas. A los siete MDPE las accesiones Amarilla de Duaba y Amarilla de Nava mostraron proporciones idénticas de plantas enfermas, mientras que Tallo morado de Nava y Sapote de Pilón mostraron proporciones inferiores. La intensidad de los síntomas se incrementó en los diferentes órganos siguiendo el siguiente orden: tallo (1,7 a 2,66), pecíolos (2,21 a 3,03) y follaje (3,44-4,03). En los frutos la intensidad de los síntomas observados fue inferior a 2,5, considerados como leves de acuerdo a su intensidad y distribución. Se ofrecen los primeros resultados sobre la susceptibilidad a la mancha anular de estas accesiones, siendo de gran utilidad para los productores, así como para los programas de mejoramiento genético en el país.

A liver metalloendopeptidase which degrades the circulating hypotensive peptide hormones bradykinin and atrial natriuretic peptide

A new metalloendopeptidase was purified to apparent homogeneity from a homogenate of normal human liver using successive steps of chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, hydroxyapatite and Sephacryl S-200. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed the Pro7-Phe8 bond of bradykinin and the Ser25-Tyr26 bond of atrial natriuretic peptide. No cleavage was produced in other peptide hormones such as vasopressin, oxytocin or Met- and Leu-enkephalin. This enzyme activity was inhibited by 1 mM divalent cation chelators such as EDTA, EGTA and o-phenanthroline and was insensitive to 1 µM phosphoramidon and captopril, specific inhibitors of neutral endopeptidase (EC 3.4.24.11) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (EC 3.4.15.1), respectively. With Mr 85 kDa, the enzyme exhibits optimal activity at pH 7.5. The high affinity of this endopeptidase for bradykinin (Km = 10 µM) and for atrial natriuretic peptide (Km = 5 µM) suggests that it may play a physiological role in the inactivation of these circulating hypotensive peptide hormones.

Evaluation of two experimental models of hepatic encephalopathy in rats

The serious neuropsychological repercussions of hepatic encephalopathy have led to the creation of several experimental models in order to better understand the pathogenesis of the disease. In the present investigation, two possible causes of hepatic encephalopathy, cholestasis and portal hypertension, were chosen to study the behavioral impairments caused by the disease using an object recognition task. This working memory test is based on a paradigm of spontaneous delayed non-matching to sample and was performed 60 days after surgery. Male Wistar rats (225-250 g) were divided into three groups: two experimental groups, microsurgical cholestasis (N = 20) and extrahepatic portal hypertension (N = 20), and a control group (N = 20). A mild alteration of the recognition memory occurred in rats with cholestasis compared to control rats and portal hypertensive rats. The latter group showed the poorest performance on the basis of the behavioral indexes tested. In particular, only the control group spent significantly more time exploring novel objects compared to familiar ones (P < 0.001). In addition, the portal hypertension group spent the shortest time exploring both the novel and familiar objects (P < 0.001). These results suggest that the existence of portosystemic collateral circulation per se may be responsible for subclinical encephalopathy.